I Can't Hear Myself Think
by Ziirroh
Summary: Ruby Rose is a new student at Beacon, but soon after she arrives, strange things begin to happen…Students are disappearing, and strange noises can be heard in the halls. Circumstances gradually worsen, and eventually, Beacon is no longer livable, and Ruby decides that she must escape. (Desc. from the blog btw) Ruby's POV. Experience her adventure, as well as her unique condition.
1. The Quest begins

**A/N: Yet another fic dedicated to the adventure of RWBY Quest. This time revolving around Ruby's _unique_ condition. Only in Rubes' POV. I'll be writing this along with the release of any RWBY Quest updates. I'm hoping to be able to portray the thoughts of Ruby, something that we don't always get to see. It's kinda like those Twitch Plays Pokemon fics, I guess, but maybe less intense.**

* * *

Ruby Rose stands in the middle of her dorm room. It's dark, so she looks through her inventory to find something to brighten up the place. She has a flashlight and spare batteries, but she decides to save those for when she really needs them. Instead she walks over to the light switch on the wall and flicks it on. The room becomes illuminated by the fluorescent lights overhead, and she finds that she is alone in the room. Even though she can clearly see this, something whispers in the back of her mind to search the bunks. She does so, and further confirms that she is the only one here. Another thought crosses her mind, telling her to scour the bookshelf for a heavy book that she could swing around easily. She's not sure why she would would want to do that with a book, but she goes to look for one anyway, finding a large tome labeled _Beacon: A History_. Thoughts of her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose, hover in her mind, but she knows that it lies in the armory inside her personal locker. She intends to retrieve it soon after figuring out where her friends are. With this thought in mind she headed towards the door and took a step outside.

She looks down the hall and immediately spots her partner Weiss Schnee on the floor, she looks fearful and crawling backwards away from something. Then she sees a strange dark creature looming over the pale girl and slowly approaching her. Being weaponless, Ruby had no way to attack, then she remembered the heavy book. Guess it was a good thing she grabbed it. Using her Semblance, Ruby rushes over to the rescue, slamming the giant textbook over the creature's head. She hears it's skull crack from the impact, but the creature ignores her as if nothing had happened and continues its advance on Weiss.

A flurry of thoughts invade her mind, telling her to pick up Weiss and run. However it seems the dark creature had the same thought as it scoops up Weiss before Ruby can react. Ruby remembers that she's carrying a flashlight and pulls it out. She turns it on and shines the bright light into the monster's eyes, hoping to blind it, or that it would drop Weiss trying to shield its eyes. However it instead turns and flees down the hallway, taking Weiss with it. A sudden thought urges Ruby to tell Weiss to knee the creature in the face. Though when she shouts this command out to her, the pale girl does not respond and remains motionless, seemingly too shocked to do anything.

Multiple ideas race through her mind, all of them leading to a single thought. _Okay! Time to try something else!_ Ruby activates her Semblance again and chases after the monster. She almost reaches them until a sudden pain erupts from her chest, and her vision fills with rose red blood. She falls to the floor, body numb and slightly twitching. She tastes the blood in her mouth and can feel it pool around her body. She feels so tired. Slowly her eye lids begin to flutter and close, and everything goes black.

**_Wake up._**

Her eyes shoot open and quickly flick back and forth, surveying her immediate surroundings. She noticed that she was no longer lying on the hard tile floor of the hall, but in the comforting embrace of a soft bed and covers. Slowly sitting up she glanced down at her body to find her torso wrapped in sterile white bandages. Someone had found her and dressed her wounds. She looks around the room again and sees two figures standing not too far from her. Oh hey! Ruby knows these guys. Her chest still hurts.

Ruby first checks her inventory, finding that she no longer has the textbook or flashlight. She must have dropped them in the hall. The two figures see that she's awake and approach. It's Blake and Ren. She asks them about the monster and Weiss. Ren tells her that she was the only one they found after hearing all the commotion.

"Are you sure of what you saw?" He asks her. "These days, they do things to your brain." He says.

Ruby isn't sure how to reply to that. Instead she looks to Blake and inquires what kind of items they have. Do they have any weapons? The two shrug and Blake informs her that their weapons are in their lockers. Ruby sighs, she already knew that would be the answer, but it didn't hurt to ask anyway. She asks Blake if they might have anything that can be used as a weapon. Blake procures a metal rod of some sort. She tells Ruby that she would rather hold on to it though, considering the condition Ruby is in, she doesn't want to be without protection.

Ruby examines her injuries. She doing pretty well considering that she took a direct hit. She begins to activate her aura in order to speed up the healing process, but Blake stops her. Tells her that she should conserve her aura, that it would take too much out of her and she should rest. Ruby doesn't want to rest. She needs to find Weiss.

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**A/N: So I'll end chapter one there; seems to be a decent place to stop. I don't want to make chapters too long, even though the flow of reading would be easier with longer chapters. We'll see how you guys like it, if it bothers you too much then I'll make longer chapters. That just means it'll take longer for updates to appear. In case you were wondering, this chapter is about 883 words, excluding the A/N. Not a lot I know. As I said, if you think longer chapters would be better let me know, otherwise they'll all be near 1k words (when including A/N) depending on the content. Tell me your thoughts of this chapter overall in a review. I would very much like to hear your opinions. Thank you for reading!**


	2. Going Outside

**A/N: Okay. I decided to just randomize the length of the chapters since I'm too lazy to keep them all the same. Besides, some parts make for really good cliffhangers XD. Anyways enjoy chapter 2~**

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She looks around the room, and recognizes that it's team JNPR's dorm. Her head aches, like there's a thousand voices screaming at her all at once. Ren and Blake are acting strange. Ruby wonders what's going on. She has to find Weiss.

**_Talk to the others in the room._**

Ruby is puzzled by this thought. There are no others in the room. Why would she even think that?

She asks about the whereabouts of the rest of team JNPR. Ren looks at her strangely, like as if she asked something she should already know.

"That's not funny Ruby. You know Jaune and Nora are missing." He says.

Ruby sweats a little, feeling uncomfortable with Ren's stare. She tells him she meant to say where's Pyrrha. He tells her he doesn't know, but that he hopes she's okay.

Ruby asks them if they've seen a flashlight and a large book while they went out to get her. Blake nods and gives them back to her. She asks them if they might have any information at all about the situation at Beacon. They shake their heads, they only know just as much as Ruby, they have no clue on what's happening. She suggests they go to the armory to retrieve their weapons, the other two agree. Ruby puts her shirt and cloak back on, she thinks she can make it, even with her injury. The natural aura process will take care of her wound. Even if Blake says to conserve her aura, she can't stop the natural process of things. Ruby is getting fed up with not knowing anything; she needs to find answers as well as her friends.

The three discuss whether leaving through the window is a good idea or not. Ruby doesn't really want to roam the hallways after her encounter with the robed monster. On the other hand, it's a fair distance to the ground. They would have to find a way to climb down safely. While they discuss their options a sudden realization hits her.

**_What about Yang?_**

Ruby asks Blake if she's seen Yang or may know where she's at. Blake gives her a reassuring smile.

"Yang is probably outside somewhere. We should keep an eye out for her as we go to the armory."

Ruby nods her head in agreement and they continue discussing their plan of exit. Ruby comes up with a brilliant idea. She tells the other two that if they tie the bed sheets together they can use it as a makeshift rope to climb out the window. They agree to this and tie the sheets together as well as a lengthy rope they manage to find in the room. Now it's long enough for them to safely make their escape out the window. Ruby peers out the window before opening it. It's very dark outside and there's not much to see, but the coast looks clear. Ruby turns to look at the others and gives them a thumbs up.

Ruby opens the window and proceeds to lower their makeshift rope over the sill.

**_RUN RUBY AND FRIENDS, THERE'S A MONSTER!_**

The thought emerges suddenly, almost sounding as if somewhere were yelling right next to her. Ruby quickly spins around to look out the window once more to find…nothing.

Ruby brushes it off as paranoia from not knowing what's going on and nearly dying from the odd creature. She lowers the rope the rest of the way until it can't go any further, and turns to face her friends. A great idea pops into Ruby's mind; she should put her cape away so that it doesn't get caught on anything while she climbs down. Good ideas. Ruby is just full of them.

Ruby tells her teammates in what order they should climb down the rope. She suggests that Blake go first, since she has a weapon. Ren would go next since he is in good health. Making Ruby last due to her injuries causing it to be difficult to react quickly. They all agree to this and proceed down the "rope". On the way down, Ruby hears Blake call the all clear. She trusts Blake and her superior night vision.

"The stars look nice." Ren comments.

Ruby wants to find Weiss, Yang, and Crescent Rose. The trip down is uneventful. The rope holds, but creaks ominously a few times, as though the fabric itself was threatening to tear. Blake, who went first brandishing her metal rod, says the coast is clear. Ruby and Ren climb down after her. It is dark. It is very, very dark. Hardly anything can be seen.

**_Ask Ren if he's feeling okay._**

Ruby looks over to him, he looks tired. Ruby asks him if he's okay and he slowly nods his head, an unconvincing frown still on his face.

"I'm alright, just worried. I want Jaune and Nora to come home now. I want to find Pyrrha."

He looks even more distressed as he says this. Ruby gives him a sympathetic smile, reassuring him that they will find her and the other two as well. He gives her a weak smile and says nothing more.

**_Don't waste your flashlight. _**

**_Have Blake scout ahead. _**

**_Listen for movement. _**

**_Can Blake hear anything? _**

**_Blake, what do your Faunus eyes see?_**

Ruby is bombarded by dozens of thoughts, all wondering if Blake is able to detect something. It's quite overwhelming, and Ruby wishes she wasn't thinking so fast. She decides the best way to rid these thoughts is to question Blake herself. She asks the Faunus girl if she could scout ahead using her ears and eyes. Blake has a look around.

"I can hear something moving, but I can't see what it is." She informs Ruby. "Maybe it's the wind in the grass?" She suggests.

Ruby feels a chill crawl up her spine.

Ruby doesn't feel any wind.

**_Use the flashlight._**

**_Scan the surroundings with the flashlight._**

**_Turn on your flashlight._**

Induced with fear, Ruby can only think of using the flashlight, though she's not sure if she should, since she wants to save the batteries. She inquires the others on what she should do, they agree that she should conserve the batteries, but a quick look can't hurt.

Ruby turns on the flashlight. The light illuminates the area in front of her. Nothing. She directs the light in a different direction, to the right. Empty. Relief begins to fill her a bit, maybe Blake was imagining things. She points the light to the left. Oh.

* * *

**A/N: Dun, dun, dun! What is it that Ruby and friends have found? Find out in the next chapter of RWBY Quest. lol Unless you keep up with the comic itself, then you already know XD. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Enter King

**A/N: Sometimes I wonder if anyone is even reading this. There are views, but for all I know ya could be just taking a peek then leaving w/o actually reading. Oh well. Not like you can't go read the comic, which is way ahead of these updates. I shall catch up soon! (ὀ⌓ὀ)**

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Ruby can see a pair of feet. They look, uh, human so maybe it's a friend. Ruby moves the flashlight up to see whose feet those are. To her relief the body is human, though whoever it is they're lacking a shirt and only wearing a green scarf. When she reaches their face what she sees astonishes her and her friends. Instead of a regular human head, this being's head is in the shape of a cube adorned with a crown on top and a large eye in the middle. It raises a hand to shield its one eye from the beam of the flashlight, and speaks.

"Ｈｅｙ! Ｗａｔｃｈ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｙｏｕ'ｒｅ ｓｈｉｎｉｎｇ ｔｈａｔ ｔｈｉｎｇ! Ｉｔ'ｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｍｕｃｈ ｔｏｏ ｂｒｉｇｈｔ."

Ruby finds herself to be surprisingly calm, though she is surprised when she hears him speak. She figures that it's a guy, since his voice is deep enough to sound like one. Hesitantly, she introduces herself, Ren, and Blake to the strange fellow.

"Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｙｏｕ."He says.

He seems friendly enough, but Ruby still feels wary of him. She asks him what they should call him by.

"Ｃａｌｌ ｍｅ Ｋｉｎｇ." Blood is oozing out of his eye, it looks like the light really hurts him.

Ruby lowers her flashlight slightly, as King does not seem hostile, and he lowers his hand.

"Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ."He says.

"Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｈｅｒｅ? Ｉｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｓａｆｅ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ｃｏｕｌｄ ａｐｐｅａｒ ａｎｙ ｍｉｎｕｔｅ." He tells them.

**_What does he recommend we do?_**

**_See what this guy thinks of the plan._**

Ruby decides that King seems trustworthy, and tells him their plans to go to the armory.

He gives her a thumbs up."Ｇｏｏｄ ｉｄｅａ! Ｂｕｔ Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈｅ 'ｏｔｈｅｒｓ' ｗｉｌｌ ｌｅｔ ｙｏｕ ｉｎ ｓｏ ｅａｓｉｌｙ."

**_Who are these others?_**

Ruby thinks, not realizing she voiced her thoughts aloud.

"Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ ａｒｅ ｃｏｍｉｎｇ. Ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ ｇｏ. ＮＯＷ." He urges them to follow his lead. It seems that he wants to help. Everyone agrees to let him join their group.

**_Wear his crown, be the prettiest princess._**

Ruby found this thought rather silly. She'd rather be the knight in shining armor than the princess. She politely asks King if she could wear his crown for a while, after all it does look really cool. King agrees to let her borrow the crown, removing it from on top of his head and gently placing it on her own.

"Ｊｕｓｔ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｔｏ ｇｉｖｅ ｉｔ ｂａｃｋ, ｏｋａｙ?" He tells her. Ruby nods her head.

They're still running through the dark, from what she's not sure. Ruby decides to use the time to ask King if he knows what's going on at Beacon. See if he knows anything about the monsters and the disappearing staff and students. King is quiet for a long time. His still bloodied eye looking at the ground in contemplation.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｄｉｆｆｉｃｕｌｔ ｔｏ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ. Ｅｖｅｎ Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ. Ｎｏｔ ｙｅｔ. Ｉ'ｍ ｔｈｅ ｓａｍｅ ａｓ ｙｏｕ. Ｉ'ｍ ｊｕｓｔ ｔｒｙｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｆｉｎｄ ｏｕｔ ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｈａｐｐｅｎｉｎｇ, ａｎｄ ｈｏｗ ｔｏ ｓｔｏｐ ｉｔ. Ｉ'ｌｌ ｔｅｌｌ ｙｏｕ ａｌｌ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｅｎ ｗｅ ｒｅａｃｈ ａ ｓａｆｅｒ ｐｌａｃｅ."

Ruby can tell that they're on their way to the Academy Gardens, and asks him if he's seen anybody else around. King points to the gardens.

"Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｈｅｒｅ ａｎｄ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ ｏｎ ｔｈｅ Ｍａｉｎ Ａｖｅｎｕｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ ｉｎ ｄａｎｇｅｒ, ｔｏｏ. Ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｄｏ?"

Ruby asks to see what King is carrying with him. He nods his head.

"Ｓｕｒｅ, ｂｕｔ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔａｋｅ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ."He says.

Ruby sees that he's carrying with him a large journal, crown polish, an ink nub, and a rag. Not too odd considering what he had could be paired with another item. Satisfied, a plan develops in Ruby's mind and she discusses with the group of her idea. She suggests that if there's two people in trouble, rescuing them in order might take too long. She says Blake should scout ahead, and if the nearer one is fighting something off, Ruby will join to help while the other two stay back and go for the other one. In the event the nearer person is in terrible danger, then all of them go help. Blake agrees to scout out the gardens ahead and report back. She goes on ahead a few yards.

The other three wait, it only takes a few minutes for her to return.

"There's someone in the gardens." She says. "Pyrrha is being attacked."

"Ｗｈａｔ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ? Ｔｈｅ ａｔｔａｃｋｅｒ." King inquires. His eye widens making him seem anxious, the blood that oozed from his eye previously is starting to go away.

"It was big. It was on four legs, with tiny, skinny hind legs and huge, powerful front legs. It had no eyes, but a huge mouth full of sharp teeth." She explains to them.

King looks to the side, a crease of worry furrows his single eye.

"Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｅ. Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｉｔｓ ｎａｍｅ. Ｔｉｃｋ-Ｔｏｃｋ Ｓｑｕａｒｅ Ｅｓｃａｐｅ."

* * *

**A/N: Another hostile encounter. How will Ruby fare against this one? Will she lose another friend or succeed in rescuing them, unlike Weiss. Find out in the next update (or read the comic XD). Thanks for reading!**


	4. Rescuing Pyrrha

**A/N: This one's real short, cuz I think the last paragraph made for a decent stopping point. Prolly gonna be the only one that doesn't come near the 1k words mark for a while.**

* * *

Ruby asks King if she could borrow the pen nib and the crown polish.

"Ｓｕｒｅ, ｊｕｓｔ ａｓ ｌｏｎｇ ａｓ ｙｏｕ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｔｏ ｇｉｖｅ ｔｈｅｍ ｂａｃｋ ｌａｔｅｒ. Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｍｙ ｃｒｏｗｎ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ." He tells her.

Ruby hands her large book to Ren since the only thing he seems to be carrying is a note. At least the book is better than nothing. Ruby looks to King again and decides to ask him about the creature he calls Tick-Tock Square Escape. What are its weaknesses, what are its strengths, anything that may be useful information?

"Ｔｈｅ Ｔｉｃｋ-Ｔｏｃｋ Ｓｑｕａｒｅ Ｅｓｃａｐｅ...Ｅｈ, ＴＴＳＥ, ｉｆ ＴＴＳＥ ｈａｓ ａ ｗｅａｋｐｏｉｎｔ, ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｔｈａｔ ｗｏｕｎｄ. Ｐｙｒｒｈａ ｍｕｓｔ ｂｅ ａ ｇｏｏｄ ｆｉｇｈｔｅｒ ｔｏ ｗｏｕｎｄ ＴＴＳＥ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｇｏｔ ｓｏｍｅ ｋｉｎｄ ｏｆ ｗｅａｐｏｎ."

He tells them.

"Ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｑｕｉｃｋ ｗｈｅｎ ｄｅａｌｉｎｇ ｗｉｔｈ ＴＴＳＥ, ａｓ ｉｔ ｉｓ ｐｏｗｅｒｆｕｌ ａｎｄ ｈａｓ ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｊａｗｓ - ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｔｏ ｃｒｕｎｃｈ ｂｏｎｅ. Ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｓｍａｒｔ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｒｅａｃｈ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ ｉｔ ｇｒａｂｓ ａｎｙｏｎｅ."

**_Cut open its arm more._**

**_You need something sharp._**

**_Use the pen nib._**

**_Use the crown._**

As the thoughts flurry through her mind, she must have spoken the last one aloud because King gives her a grumpy look.

"Ｄｏ ＮＯＴ ｕｓｅ ｍｙ ｃｒｏｗｎ ａｓ ａ ｗｅａｐｏｎ. Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｗｉｌｌｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｓａｃｒｉｆｉｃｅ ｍｙ ｐｅｎ ｎｉｂ, ａｎｄ ｓｏｍｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ. Ｆｏｒ Ｐｙｒｒｈａ'ｓ ｓａｋｅ."

"Ｉ ｄｏｕｂｔ ｔｈｅｒｅ ｉｓ ａ ｓｎｅａｋｙ ｗａｙ ｔｏ ｄｏ ｔｈｉｓ. Ｂｕｔ ｍａｙｂｅ ｔｈｅ ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ ｉｓ ｆｏｃｕｓｅｄ ｏｎ Ｐｙｒｒｈａ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｐａｙ ａｔｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ ｙｏｕ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｏｔｈｅｒｓ." King adds, sounding hopeful.

Ruby decides to go for it. It's now or never.

The group silently approaches the monster from behind. Ruby looks for Pyrrha and finds her. There's a small combat knife on the ground before her, and a pool of blood that is steadily spreading. The red haired warrior is badly wounded, blood is seeping between her fingers, where her hand is trying to suppress the flow. Pyrrha's entire left arm is missing, just a stump from where the elbow would've been. Pyrrha is looking directly at Ruby, your eyes meet. Pyrrha sees you.

**_She might give away our position!_**

**_Motion to Pyrrha to be quiet._**

**_Try to tell her not to give us away._**

Ruby brings a finger to her lips, a universal message to tell her to be silent. Pyrrha nods her head slightly. Ruby uncaps the lid to the crown polish with a pop.

Blake shimmies over to her and whispers, "I'll hurry over to Pyrrha and try to escape with her, while you do as planned."

Ruby nods, both she and Blake tell Ren and King to stay back and be prepared for anything. In case it goes badly. Then the two disappear in a flash of rose petals and shadows.

Everything that happened next was a blur. Ruby appeared near TTSE, splashing its open wound with the crown polish successfully. Blake swooped in and quickly picked up Pyrrha, as well as her knife, carrying the injured girl in hers arms and running away from the creature. Ruby waited only for a second, watching the strange green substance of the polish fizzle on the entity's cut. She soon joined Blake and Pyrrha in their escape. The monster released a resounding roar in pain and anger. However, the beast didn't follow them; Ren and King follow behind though. It seems Ruby and her friends may have lucked out on this one.

* * *

**A/N: Whoot! They rescued Pyrrha, seems that Ruby's luck is looking up atm. Pyrrha's not looking too good though, very worrisome. Thanks for reading!**


	5. Blood & Letters

**A/N: Ruby and friends had just rescued Pyrrha, but she's not in great shape. Will she make it? Read below to find out~**

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They ran for a while longer, to ensure that TTSE was not following them, before finally stopping to take a rest. Blake gently set Pyrrha down, and Ruby was able to clearly see her injury. She was bleeding a lot. It was obvious that her aura was working to close the wound, but it wasn't doing it fast enough since Pyrrha was quite worn out from her encounter with TTSE.

"We need something to bandage her wound, she's losing too much blood." Blake states to Ruby, a slight tremble of worry in her tone. "We have to use what we have."

**_Look at all that blood._**

**_That's a lot of blood._**

**_She's going to bleed out._**

**_You've got to do something!_**

**_She needs to be bandaged._**

**_What can we use?!_**

**_The cloak!_**

**_Use the cloak._**

Panicked thoughts rushed through her head as she stared at Pyrrha's bleeding stump. She was starting to feel a little dizzy, though she wasn't sure if it was because of the blood or the flurry of thoughts. Ruby, use her cloak? That's crazy talk! This cloak means so much to her, she can't just- Ruby shakes her head to clear her mind and she looks at Pyrrha. Some things are more important right now.

Ruby unclasped her cloak and offers it to Blake. The Faunus girl looks at her with apparent shock.

"Ruby, are you sure about this? I know how important this is to you."

"It's okay. I can get a new one." Ruby replies with a forced smile.

Blake takes the cape and cuts it up, she's trembling a lot and tears are forming in her eyes. Ruby takes the cloths and begins wrapping the pieces around Pyrrha's arm the best she can. Afterwards the group figures out what to do next. It seems that they're halfway between the Gardens and the Avenue. The group decides to venture over to the Avenue.

As they come closer to viewing the Avenue Ruby calls for an inventory check, in case they need to plan for another encounter.

**_Peek around the corner, see what's going on._**

Ruby tells the others to stay back a bit, while she takes a quick look around the corner of the main building. In the darkness all she can see is a light shimmering in the distance. It looks warm.

**_Pyrrha and Ren had notes._**

**_Maybe we should look at them._**

**_Before we go out and get ourselves killed._**

Ignoring the last trailing thought, Ruby proceeds to ask Ren to let her see his note from Nora. He gives her a look of distrust, holding the note away from her outstretched hand.

"Why? You've read it before."

Ruby's patience with him was wearing thin. What made Ren think she read it before? She didn't even know where they were until she woke up in JNPR's dorm.

"Just give me the note Ren." She demands, the irritation showing in her tone.

Reluctantly he hands the note over, glaring at her all the while. She then turns to Pyrrha and asks the same of her. Pyrrha goes to hands over her scraps of paper without conflict.

"I found them littered on the floor in a hallway, but I saw no other scraps around." She informs Ruby.

As Ruby was handed the pieces, she noticed that Pyrrha's hand looked odd, like it was covered in smoke. However it was too dark to really tell, so she paid it no heed. Ruby used her flashlight to try and read the notes. She looked at Nora's note first. The majority of the paper was stained red, with what appeared to be blood, and looked singed on one corner. This made Ruby worry a bit, and as she tried to read the note her worry for Nora only grew.

_Ren_

_It's happening again._

_I'm afraid the smoke is_

_Choking me._

_I can't brea-_

The final letter on the note drags down to the corner of the page unfinished. Her hands tremble slightly, but she steels herself and begins to examine the scraps. She tries putting them in their proper spots, but it doesn't help much, most of the parts missing are needed to make the note even remotely illegible. She can pick out a few words though, but it's rather confusing and beginning to give her a minor headache.

Ruby returns the papers to their owners and calls everyone in for an adjustment to their inventories. Ruby wants everyone to at least have some form of weapon before venturing out into the Avenue. Ruby keeps the bloody knife Pyrrha had, while said girl is given the flashlight. Blake still has her metal rod and Ren the large textbook. King's pen nib is given back to him.

While giving Pyrrha the flashlight Ruby notices her hand again. It's is engulfed in some sort of smoky substance!

**_Whoa, what's up with her hand?_**

**_Hey why is her hand like that?_**

**_Ask her what's wrong with her hand._**

Ruby hesitantly brings up the topic of Pyrrha's hand. The red head looks down to her hand, studying it.

"It feels warm. Like it's burning."

Ruby is at a loss of words as Pyrrha continues to stare at her hand stoically. Wanting to take her mind off of it she decides to ask Blake how she feels about Yang's disappearance. Blake turns to her suddenly.

"If I'm okay? OKAY?!" She screeches.

"Weiss was ABDUCTED. We don't even KNOW where Yang is. And you want to know if I'm OKAY?" Blake yells frustrated.

"Weiss and Yang are my TEAMMATES. Yang is my partner and your sister. She's..." Blake trails off from her outburst.

"They're both precious to me." She looks down solemnly toward the ground.

"Sorry," Ruby mumbles. "I'm worried too."

"Let's just find Yang and Weiss and get out of here." Blake turns around without giving Ruby another look.

* * *

**A/N: Gosh Blake, rude XD. Nah she has her reasons, but still, I think she could've used a chill pill. As for Pyrrha, what's going on with her? Keep reading to find out, or check out the comic! Thanks for reading~**


	6. Glow of Warmth

**A/N: Don't go towards the light! Hahah. Looks like you'll get to see what that light is all about now.**

* * *

The group is quiet for a while, an awkward nervousness settling over them. Ruby breaks the silence to announce that they should go on toward the light she saw earlier. As they approach the light, Ruby can now tell it is a campfire. She can also see a shadowy figure near it. It seems to have heard them as it calls out to them.

"Ｗｈｏ'ｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ?"

The voice rings with a strong familiarity. Ruby knows this voice, and it seems Blake does too, as she hears a small gasp from the girl. Ruby concentrates her focus on the being before them, trying to catch any of noticeable details. When she sees long golden hair she also lets out a gasp.

**_It's Yang! I think?_**

**_Call out to her._**

**_Something doesn't seem right._**

**_It might be another entity, get a weapon ready._**

**_Stay back, call out Yang's name, and see if it's really her._**

Ruby was ecstatic to finally find her sister, but she seemed kind of eerie. Her eyes were a constant red glow, as if her Semblance were activated nonstop. However she didn't seem to be covered in the flames that was often associated with it. Ruby was scared. She didn't know whether to go forward or run away from the being in front of her. She almost didn't want to know if it was her sister; she didn't want to face the disappointment of this person not being her sister.

Ruby's body trembled and tears were starting to brim her eyes, until a light touch was felt on her shoulder. She looked over to find Blake regarding her with sympathy, a slight smile on her face. Words didn't need to be spoken as a silent message was passed between the two. Taking a deep breath Ruby steeled herself to speak first.

"Yang? Yang, is that you?" Ruby started off carefully. She felt the tears returning already. Why was she so weak?

"...R uby?"

"Yang, it's us. Are you okay?" Blake's voice wavers, tears trailing down her face.

Yang looks away briefly, Ruby fearing that the girl did not recognize them. Then Yang spoke to them.

"What are you two dorks talking about?" She said cheerfully. "Hahahaha! Hey guys." She waves to the two.

Ruby's fears quickly subsided and her tearful demeanor was replaced with an unamused expression. Blake on the other hand wiped her tears away and smiled.

Yang points down toward her campfire. "It's pretty dark, so I lit up a fire. It seems to keep them away." Yang told them.

Ruby decides to see what Yang has in her inventory. She's got her music player, headphones, and some weird horn looking object. Ruby's not really sure what it is, but she figures she'll ask about it later. Right now she's just relieved to know that Yang's still alive. Ruby asks her why she has her music player and not a weapon.

"A girl's gotta have her music!" Was her reply.

**_Hey, Blake should totally kiss Yang._**

**_Tell Blake to smooch Yang big time right now!_**

Ruby giggled at the silly thoughts in her head. She was ready to suggest it, seeing as she knew Blake liked her sister as more than just her assigned partner, but it seemed Blake doesn't need to be told. Blake walked up to Yang and planted a kiss on the blonde's lips, making her eyes grow wide and her banana strand of hair stand on end. Ruby held her hands on both sides of her cheeks, blushing a little and grinning like a dork. Ren remained stoic, while Pyrrha gave a thumbs up with her only hand. Meanwhile King looked on in confusion, Ruby hearing him question the situation.

After their brief smooch, Ruby felt caught up in the moment, and giddily skipped over to Yang to plant a kiss on her cheek. She was so glad her big sis was safe. Blake and Pyrrha smiled at the two, while King looked on incredulously at the rest of the group.

**_Think of smooching Weiss._**

**_Weiss, need to smooch._**

**_You could be smooching Weiss right now._**

Ruby blushed, her face coloring to match her namesake. She brought her hands up to try and cover up her embarrassment. Why would such thoughts about her partner pop up at a time like this? Not that she wouldn't mind smooching Weiss.

Shaking her head to rid herself of such lewd thoughts she looks at Yang and remembers that her eyes are still glowing red. When she asks her about it though, Yang only replies with, "What do you mean?" It seems she's not aware of it, or is avoiding the question. Ruby decides not to prod any further.

Ruby decided now would be a good time to ask her about the strange horn she has.

"This thing? I tore it right off one of them...pretty cool huh?"

Ruby asks to see her music player. It has a playlist containing 261 tracks titled "I Burn". Ruby finds it odd that someone would have that many tracks of the same song, but now is not the time to critique her sister's musical tastes. Continuing the rapid fire questioning, she asks if Yang has seen Weiss, and how her health is. Yang shrugs, and holds one of her arms, a dejected look on her face.

"I haven't seen her. Lots of people I haven't seen. Even all the teachers are gone. Weird isn't it?" She says sadly. "I'm ok though." She gives a reassuring smile.

* * *

**A/N: Iiiiiiit's Yang! Whoot! Another friend joins the group. Ruby need to get her priorities straight, suddenly wanting to smooch Weiss XD. Calm down gurl. Anyways I hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to check out the original comic on tumblr.**


	7. The Infirmary

**A/N: The team has found Yang in the Main Avenue, though she seems a lil odd. With more allies let's see how the group fares.**

* * *

Ruby scans the group and notices Ren is not standing with the others. Panic starts to set in as she calls out his name, but she is relieved when she hears him answer her call.

"I'm here. Don't worry." He's standing a little ways off from the group, closer to the fire than the others are.

**_Find the person at the main avenue._**

Ruby is starting to get annoyed at these repetitive thoughts she's been having. She already knows who the person is; it's Yang.

**_Pyrrha doesn't look so good._**

**_Something's not right with Pyrrha._**

**_What's up with her mouth?_**

Ruby looks over to the one armed girl to see an abnormally large fang growing out at the bottom left side of her mouth. Now that's a big tooth. When Ruby asks her how she's feeling the other girl responds, "It really hurts." They need to make their way to the infirmary soon.

Ruby turns to Yang and asks her if she got injured from whatever entity she got that horn from. She can't believe she didn't ask sooner. Yang spreads out her arms and gives her a cheerful smile.

"Not a scratch, or any kind of injury at all!"

**_The monster blood seems dangerous._**

**_Maybe you should clean off the knife._**

**_Clean the horn thingy too._**

**_Use the polish._**

**_DO NOT TOUCH THE BLOOD._**

**_Ask King if you can use his rag._**

Ruby considers this theory that the blood from these creatures could affect them with whatever effects Pyrrha is experiencing. Ruby asks King for his rag, he complies.

"Ｂｅ ｃａｒｅｆｕｌ." He tells her.

After thanking him she applies some of the crown polish to the cloth and cleans the blood off the knife blade. It sizzles and hisses, the green substance evaporating into the air. Ta-dah! The blood comes off cleanly, so Ruby cleans off the horn as well. All better!

Looking at the blood reminded Ruby of Pyrrha's condition, and she asks the girl if there's anything else wrong with her.

"Well I lost an arm, I may be bleeding out, and my hand is kind of...crusty, but no I'm all good." She tries to stay positive, even when she's probably close to dying.

**_Pyrrha's really not having a good time._**

**_Got to take her to the hospital wing._**

**_Maybe give her the crown to lift her spirits a little?_**

Ruby decides to let Pyrrha wear King's crown for now. She hopes it cheers up the pained girl even in the slightest way. After all, when Ruby wore the crown she was feeling pretty good. Ruby announces to the group that they should head to the hospital wing.

"I would like that a lot." Pyrrha says with a small smile. Seems the crown is working its magic.

"Ｙｅｓ, ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｇｏ. Ｉｔ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｂｅ ｓａｆｅｒ ｔｈｅｒｅ."

The group make their way to the hospital wing without encountering any new enemies. As they approach the doors a faint light can be seen glowing through the small windows adorning the doors. Ruby carefully opens one of the doors and peers in cautiously. The resting room is before her, it's empty except for some beds. We're here and it's lit. Nice.

**_Now would be a good time to look at King's notebook._**

**_Ask King if you can read his journal._**

"So, uh, can I read your journal?" She asks him.

"ＹＯＵ ＡＢＳＯＬＵＴＥＬＹ ＣＡＮＮＯＴ!" King screeches at her.

The orb of his eye transformed into a large mouth, snarling and snapping his large fangs at her. Ruby covers her mouth with both hands to contain the scream she was about to release.

**_ROLL CHARISMA!_**

**_Use persuasive words to convince him._**

**_Use your feminine wiles._**

Ruby twiddles her fore fingers, pushing them together in nervousness, and tries to give her best puppy dog pout.

"Hey King...won't you show me?"

Look at how cute I am! He's got to cave in, right?

King gives her a blank stare, at least that's what she would think it is since his mouth is still present on his face.

"...Ｕｈ. ＮＯ." He says.

**_Well that didn't work._**

**_Read the textbook instead._**

Why would Ruby want to waste her time on reading the History of Beacon textbook? It's just a regular boring textbook. It's literally drier than one of Weiss' jokes. That is true information.

**_Search the area for other survivors._**

**_We need to find medical supplies._**

**_Look for something to help Pyrrha._**

**_Keep an eye out for potential weapons._**

Thing's like supplies and tools would be further in. So Ruby ventures toward the back area, with Pyrrha trailing behind her. The others follow at a more leisurely distance, wary of danger sprouting at any moment. Ruby decides to check out the supply room first, since it's more likely to have something that would help Pyrrha. It's a good thing there aren't any of those strange creatures here.

Oh. Well. That's not a good sign.

* * *

**A/N: Sheesh King, she asked nicely. Don't need to get so riled up. Oh snap! What is it that Ruby sees in the infirmary. Find out in the next chapter or go read the comic on tumblr. Thanks for reading!**


	8. Reassurance

**A/N: Rubble what do your eyes spy? Hahah. Guess it's time to find out.**

* * *

There's a body lying in the open doorway to the supply room. There's blood all over it and the small area it occupies. There are spikes covered in blood on the back of whoever this person is, maybe that's how they died. Ruby decides to examine the body. Find out who it is and what happened to them.

Ruby gingerly walks over to it and grabs a leg. She drags the body out of the way. Hey. This guy seems familiar.

Ruby turns the body so that she can see their face. Ruby knows this guy. It's Professor Oobleck. She knew that bright green hair seemed familiar.

Oobleck looks terrible. His face has small spikes protruding from his forehead and both sides of his chin. His fingertips are torn and bloodied. His nails are overgrown, almost looking like claws. But the one feature that captures her attention is the long fangs jutting out from his lower lip.

At this point Pyrrha had come up next to Ruby and seen it all. Ruby looked at her nervously, she wasn't sure what to say. Pyrrha's whole body was trembling uncontrollably as she stared at Oobleck's body. Pyrrha recognized those fangs. She closed her eyes and tears streamed down her face, sobs racking her form as she spoke.

"I'm going to die...! Look. Look at him! I'm going to die. Just like him. I'm going to die, and soon." Pyrrha opened her eyes, and her voice shuddered as she took a deep breath to continue.

"I always accepted death. I know death is natural. But now that it's happening to me..." Pyrrha sniffled loudly and looked to Ruby.

"Ruby, I don't want to die."

Ruby tries to comfort Pyrrha. Nothing is working. They all saw Oobleck. He and Pyrrha are the same. She's going to die, in the same way he did.

**_Loot his body._**

**_Search his body for clues._**

**_Maybe he has something useful._**

Ruby manages to look through his inventory. He doesn't have much, but it looks like he has more pieces of the scraps Pyrrha has. Ruby takes all the scraps and puts them together the best she can. The note is still mostly illegible, but there are two words that stand out to her. Glynda and Ozpin. Written at the top corner and the bottom corner respectively.

Ruby steps around Oobleck and takes a look at what the supply room holds. There's shelves of stuff! The mother lode basically. There are bandages, Band-Aids, eye dressing, painkillers, cleansing wipes, disposable gloves, disinfectant, a couple of first aid kits, rash cream, insect bite/sting reliever, and dark chocolate. Ruby's adventurer instincts are just BEGGING her to pick this stuff up!

Ruby decides to pick up one of the first-aid kits. Need to check out what's in this thing, first and foremost. The others gather around to peer inside the kit with Ruby. Awesome! The kit contains everything that's on the shelves and more, but in smaller amounts. One of these would last a really long time! And if anything runs out, they could always come back and pick up more stuff. Ruby feels excited. Now they can tend to Pyrrha's wounds properly and have all this stuff for later use. Ruby stashes the kit.

**_We must save our friend!_**

**_Give Pyrrha some painkillers._**

**_Make sure you don't touch the blood._**

**_Put on some gloves._**

**_She could probably use that chocolate._**

**_Everyone could use that chocolate._**

Ruby thinks it's time they tend to Pyrrha. She tells the girl to sit down on one of the beds and grabs the supplies she needs. Ruby takes fresh bandages, painkillers, disinfectant, some chocolate, and, as an afterthought, gloves for everyone. She brings these items back to the others and dumps them on the bed.

Ruby walks over to Ren and inquires about his medical knowledge.

"I have some knowledge, but no more than anyone else on the team." He tells her. "But I'll take care of Pyrrha if that's what you're asking."

Ruby gives him a thumbs up and lets him take charge right now. Before he does anything, Ruby advises him to put on gloves just in case, and he does.

Ren does his best to be quick and gentle at the same time while he's tending to Pyrrha's wounds. Ruby stands by to assist in bringing him the things he needs. It seems to hurt. Pyrrha clenches her eyes shut and looks away while he works. Involuntary whimpering and pained gasps leaving her mouth. Ren apologizes a lot, but he doesn't stop until the wound seems relatively clean and good to go. Then he bandages her arm with fresh wraps. After Pyrrha settles down she looks to Ren with tearful eyes.

"Why are you wasting your supplies on me? I'm going to die anyway." She says solemnly.

Ren takes her hand in his and holds it up to eye level.

"You're my teammate, right? Teammates look out for each other." He smiles reassuringly at her.

"You're going to be okay. I'll make sure of that."

Ruby smiles at the two as she watches the conversation unfold. She then brings out the chocolate for everyone to eat, while pondering what to do next. She notices that King seems to really like it a lot.

* * *

**A/N: The salt is strong in this one. If you really want to see the progress on the scrap pieces go check out the comic. There's more to see there. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the taste of salt.**


	9. Infected

**A/N: Time to do some thinkin in that noggin of yers Rubes.**

* * *

**_That crown polish is rather odd._**

**_The way it reacts to blood is mysterious._**

**_Test the crown polish on Oobleck's blood._**

**_Try the polish on pure human blood._**

**_Observe effects of polish._**

Hey. That's not a bad idea. Ruby asks everyone if they remember what the polish did to Tick-Tock, and what it did to the blood on the knife and horn. Varying degrees of nodding and mumbled acknowledgements float through the group. Ruby tells them that maybe it reacts to the monster blood. Maybe it's an infection of some sort. Oobleck seems infected, so they should test the polish on his blood.

"We'll need an uninfected sample to compare results with." Ren says. "I'll do it." He volunteers.

"Ruby, lend me the knife."

Ruby decides to test the polish on Oobleck's blood first.

"Ｉｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｓａｆｅ ｔｏ ｕｓｅ ｔｈｅ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ ｏｎ ｃｌｅａｎ ｈａｎｄｓ, ｓｉｎｃｅ Ｉ'ｖｅ ｕｓｅｄ ｉｔ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｅ ｒａｇ ｔｏ ｐｏｌｉｓｈ ｔｈｅ ｃｒｏｗｎ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ." King tells her.

Ruby puts some polish on the rag and touches it to Oobleck's blood. It sizzles and gives off a lot of green smoke.

"As I thought." Ruby says. "It does seem to respond to infected blood. What is even in this stuff?" She looks over at King.

He shrugs and says, "I don't know what's in the polish. I just found it. It doesn't have a proper label, and is probably homemade."

Huh. Weird.

Ruby gives the knife to Ren and tells him to cut his arm or something, not his palm.

"Alright then." He says.

He cuts his arm rather deeply. The blood drips onto the polish-filled rag. It sizzles and smokes.

Ruby bandages Ren's arm. He didn't have to cut it that deep. Just a prick of a finger would have been okay. Ruby doesn't understand what is going through Ren's mind. Ruby takes the knife, and after cleaning it off, she presses it to her finger, just enough to draw a few drops of blood. As the drops land on the green substance of the polish, it sizzles and smokes.

**Let the others try it.**

**Maybe it's a fluke.**

**It might react to everyone's blood.**

Ruby passes the knife off to one of the others, until everyone has allowed a drop of their blood on the polish. Every time it smokes and sizzles.

Either the polish reacts to all blood, or everyone is infected.

**Reassure Pyrrha.**

**Remind her to be strong, for Jaune.**

Ruby voices her last thought to the pitiful girl.

"Be strong for Jaune? FOR JAUNE?" Pyrrha almost yells. "Jaune is probably already dead. I couldn't save him, and I couldn't save myself." Pyrrha holds the stump of her missing left arm, looking down at the floor in a daze. "Maybe dying isn't so bad...if it means ending this. If it means everything will be okay."

Pyrrha pauses for a moment before continuing to speak.

"For some reason, my mind is wandering..." She whispers, Ruby almost not catching her words.

Then she looks up and turns her head toward Ruby.

"Ruby...did you know?" She turns her whole body toward Ruby, her only arm raised halfway; it's covered in grey smoke. There's a strange look in her eyes.

"Clay is white."

**_Sanity check!_**

**_Ask what everyone thinks of the current situation._**

**_Do the others have suggestions to make?_**

**_Let's see what the others want to do._**

Ruby says that she thinks the hospital wing is a safe place, but they probably shouldn't need to stay here longer than necessary. The first aid-kits will be enough, and if they ever need to pick up more stuff they could come back.

"I think Ruby is right, it's pretty safe here. Maybe we should move that body somewhere though." Yang says.

"I don't like this place." Blake states. "Also, I'm worried about Weiss, and would like to see her soon."

"I want to go to the cafeteria." Ren says. "Someone might be there. And we'll need food soon. Chocolate just isn't going to cut it."

"Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｉｚｅ ｆｉｎｄｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｗｈａｔ ｈａｐｐｅｎｅｄ ｈｅｒｅ." King says. "Ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｈｅａｄ ｔｏ ｔｈｅ ｏｆｆｉｃｅｓ; ｉｆ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｃｌｕｅｓ ａｎｙｗｈｅｒｅ, ｉｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｔｈｅｒｅ."

"RUBY."

There's a fiery looking substance pouring from Pyrrha's mouth. Pyrrha holds her hand under her mouth, trying to catch the glowing orange substance. She looks to Ruby with pained, tearful eyes.

"R u by - - it bu el p m e."

The gunk coming out of Pyrrha's mouth is thick and warm. It radiates heat. Almost like it's liquid fire. Pyrrha's eyes stat leaking with the fluid.

"Help me...I'm afraid."

And it consumes her.

* * *

**A/N: And there she goes. You prolly weren't expecting that, huh? Unless you've read the comic already. Tell me, how salty are you XD. Thanks for reading~**


	10. Black Sword Queen

**A/N: So, Pyrrha's not doing so well XD. Being consumed by lava isn't the best way to go.**

* * *

**_It's too late, Pyrrha's gone._**

**_Run away!_**

**_Leave now!_**

**_Run you fools!_**

**_Get the heck out!_**

**_IT'S TOO LATE._**

Ruby gasps in surprise as the group watches Pyrrha's mortal form burn away in the lava and grow. She continues to grow, her shadow looming over Ruby, as her transformation completes. Her new form is covered in tough, sleek scales. Two large horns curl backwards on her head, and spikes trail from the tip of her muzzle all the way down to her tail. She has large powerful wings attached to her back as well. Her eyes glow like melted gold, and smoke rises from her nostrils and fanged mouth.

**_Don't panic!_**

**_Try to head toward the door._**

**_Call out Pyrrha's name._**

**_Maybe a familiar voice will keep her friendly._**

Ruby pushes aside her growing panic. She moves closer to the rest of the group. King seems to be scribbling furiously in his journal. Wonder what he's writing at a time like this. Ruby sees movement in the group, she reaches out a hand half way as Ren steps forward.

"Pyrrha? It's me. Pyrrha, it's Ren! Please come back." He says earnestly. Pyrrha studies him, tilting her head to one side. "Pyrrha, stop it. Pyrrha-"

"ＹＯＵ ＷＩＬＬ ＢＵＲＮ" She growls out loudly.

"Oh sweet dust bunnies. RUN NOW!" Ruby exclaims.

As the group scampers their way to an exit, Ruby notices Ren standing frozen on the spot. Luckily King was near him. Ruby saw him pick up Ren as if he was a pillow, and carry the boy over his shoulder as they quickly followed the rest of the group.

"Ｒｕｂｙ." Her name rumbles low in Pyrrha's throat.

"Ｒｕｂｙ." She starts to slowly trail behind them.

"Ｒｕｂｙ." She starts to growl it now. They turn a corner down a long hallway, Ruby can see a door up ahead.

"ＲＵＢＹ." She roars. Her head peeks around the corner, a large clawed hand grabs the corner of the wall, making it splinter and crack.

They reach the doors, and Blake tries to open them. Rattling the doorknobs in a panic.

"I-It's locked Ruby." She says while pointing at the doors. Yang is next to her, mimicking her motions exactly.

"Duuude." Is all she says with a crooked smile, her eyes still a dim red glow.

The heavy thudding of footsteps approach, the claws clicking against the tiled floor. Ruby turns around and slowly backs up until her back is to the door. She looks at the others to find them doing the same. The hallway has a low ceiling, so Pyrrha crouches low in front of them. Smoke billows from her nostrils and mouth.

"ＹＯＵ ＤＩＤ ＴＨＩＳ ＲＵＢＹ."

**_Use the knife._**

**_STAB PYRRHA._**

**_That's no longer you're friend._**

**_It's either you or her._**

Ruby doesn't consider the consequences and just acts. Pulling out the knife, Ruby activates her Semblance and leaps up to attack. Pyrrha's scales are hard, and the knife bounces right off, but her eyes are soft. When the scales deflect the blade, it rattles Ruby's entire being, causing her to continue moving from momentum. Unable to stop herself the knife pierces Pyrrha's eye, blood spurts out of it. Pyrrha roars in pain, flailing her head about. Ruby didn't mean to do that.

Ruby retreats back to the doors. She wishes that she had Crescent Rose. Unfortunately, the only way to the armory at the moment is through those doors.

**_Try to distract Pyrrha._**

**_Talk to her maybe?_**

**_You should apologize to her._**

**_Have the others try to open the door._**

Ruby looks to Blake, who catches the silent message she's sending and nods. She looks at the door, trying to figure out how to open it, while Yang stands nearby.

"Dude, we're busting it open." She can hear Yang says with an odd smile still on her face.

"Yang, don't be weird." Is Blake's reply.

Pyrrha's thrashing has stopped, and she angles her good eye at Ruby. Ruby gulps and raises a hand signaling a truce, hoping the gesture pacifies the dragon.

"H-hey, Pyrrha. S-sorry about your eye. I didn't mean for that to happen." Ruby sputters out nervously.

Pyrrha doesn't move, simply continuing to stare at her. Then suddenly Pyrrha moves swiftly. Ruby flinches back, ready for an incoming strike. However instead she hears a loud crash as Pyrrha breaks through the wall.

Ruby runs over to the gaping hole and sees Pyrrha unfurl her wings and take flight. She soars high above before circling around and disappearing out of sight, somewhere over Beacon.

* * *

**A/N: Looks like Ruby got through to her, maybe. They're lucky Pyrrha didn't just roast 'em on the spot of something. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Brief Reprieve

**A/N: Well, now that Pyrrha's gone they just have to worry about getting through those doors.**

* * *

Ruby turns to her friends, everyone looks just as confused and relieved as her. Blake can't get the door open, even with the pipe. Ruby tells Yang to give it a shot. Yang is still smiling lopsidedly, the red glow in her eyes seem to brighten a bit more. She moves in front of one of the doors, raising an arm and aiming a fist at it.

"Dude, no stupid door is gonna stand in my way." Yang punches through the glass with ease, managing to break the entire top half of the door. Ruby could have sworn she had seen spikes come out of her hand and arm. Maybe all this panicking was making her see things. Yang turns to the group, that strange smile still apparent.

"ＴＨＥ ＤＯＯＲ ＨＡＳ ＯＰＥＮＥＤ."

Ruby looked in disbelief at her sister's actions, her mouth hanging open in shock. Recollecting herself she looked at Yang and noticed she wasn't hurt at all. No blood from cuts or anything.

"...Yang, are you sure there isn't something we need to talk about?" Ruby asked tentatively. "Like, right now?" Yang gazes at her with that goofy smile.

"What are you talking about?" Yang says while looking down at both of her hands.

"I feel FANTASTIC. How do you feel? Hahahaha."

Ruby looks at her sister oddly and asks if she's injured or anything.

"I told you earlier dude! Not a scratch!" She says, presenting her arms out toward Ruby. Satisfied, Ruby nods and turns to the rest of the group. If she had paid attention to Yang a moment longer, she would've seen blood beginning to pour from her mouth, and her sister wiping it away with the back of her hand.

"What."

As Ruby was talking to everyone in the group to see if they were okay, she then remembered the reason behind the locked doors. The hallway doors have electronic locks, controlled from the office. They're usually not locked, but the doors can be locked independent of each other to block off certain section of the school in case of an emergency. Guess that explains why the infirmary was relatively safe.

Ruby calls for an inventory check. Ruby remembers she still has spare batteries. It's unfortunate that Pyrrha's transformation ended up accounting for the loss of the flashlight. They would probably need that later on. Ruby and the gang proceed to climb through the busted half of the door, since they can't actually open it, and make their way to the armory. It doesn't take long for them to reach it. There it is. Finally.

"Dude." Yang says, causing Ruby to turn around and look at her. She has a crazed look in her glowing red eyes that frightens Ruby a little.

"Dude, we're busting it open." Yang says rather dramatically.

Everyone nearly face palms at this. Yang begins to approach the door in a fighting stance.

"You wanna go, you piece of shit door?" She says while flipping the bird with both her hands at it. Ruby waves her arms about while standing between Yang and the door.

"Yang, please don't fight the door!"

"Yang, no." Blake says behind the blonde brawler.

King shakes his head before holding a hand against it, some spikes protrude from his arm in his frustration.

"Ｇｕｙｓ, ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｎｅｅｄ. Ｔｈｅ ｄｏｏｒ ｉｓ ｏｐｅｎ." He says while opening it.

"Welp." Yang says while scratching her chin with one finger,

"I told you." Ruby says exasperatedly, raising both of her arms in the air.

With that out of the way, everyone enters the armory and goes to find their respective lockers. Ruby rushes over to her in a flash, quickly entering her access code. It beeps an affirmative at the correct code number and unlocks. Ruby looks inside to see Crescent Rose resting inside in its compact form. Reaching in and pulling it out she gives her "sweet heart" a smooch. She really missed her weapon, she felt utterly vulnerable without it. After everyone retrieves their weapons the regroup in the center of the room. Ruby had released Crescent Rose into its scythe mode to ensure it was in working order, while the others did similar things with their weapons. Ruby noticed how King looked nervously at them and all of their dangerous weapons.

**_Check the other lockers._**

**_Get Pyrrha's weapon, not like she can use it._**

**_King needs a weapon too._**

**_Retrieve Weiss' weapon as well._**

**_What if someone is hiding in the lockers?_**

Ruby actually considers these thoughts and starts to head to Weiss' locker. Then she remembered an important detail about the lockers. She slaps both hands to her head as the realization struck. "I am a moron." The lockers are locked with combination codes. They cannot be opened by any other means. No one in the party can pry or otherwise force the lockers open. Besides, a weapon can't be used by anyone else than its owner anyway.

Ruby feels her stomach rumble then it growls, reminding her that herself and the others haven't eaten in a while. Well, except for the chocolate. Everyone stows away their weapons and looks to Ruby, ready to head out. Giving them a nod Ruby turns toward the exit and heads out into the hall. Cafeteria trip!

There's another hallway door they find along the way. This one is unlocked. It's dark in there.

"Ren?" A familiar voice calls out from the other side of the doors.

Ren breaks out the daze that he was in ever since the incident with Pyrrha. He stumbles toward the doors, frantic and tears forming in his eyes.

"Nora!"

* * *

**A/N: Oh snap! Nora's alive?! How will Ren fare in this new situation? Find out in the next chapter or read the comic. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Boop, Bang

**A/N: Too much salt for anyone to handle. That is all.**

* * *

Ren tries to rush forward, but Ruby knew this was going to happen, and has King and Blake hold him back, in case he tries to do something unreasonable.

"Let go of me! Nora!" Ren struggles against their hold, but he's far too exhausted to really do much. Tears stream down his face as he continues to call out for Nora.

Ruby sympathizes with the pitiful boy, having just lost Pyrrha and now suddenly finding Nora. Ruby was worried though, for all they know it might be another entity pretending to be Nora. Ruby decides to speak to her. She stays well away from the door and raises a cupped hand near her mouth as she calls out.

"Nora? Can you come out here?"

There's a slight pause before she answers.

"I can't."

Well this was quite the dilemma. Ruby supposed she would have to take the chance of approaching Nora herself. As she nears the ajar door she wished that she had her flashlight. Too bad it got destroyed when Pyrrha transformed. Ruby figures the light from the hall will be enough. Ruby opens the door slowly. The light from the lit hall floods into the dark one. Nora is here.

Ruby lets out a gasp as her eyes roam over Nora. She's sitting on the ground, leaning against a wall, an arm laid over her abdomen. What makes Ruby gasp is the fact that most of Nora's left leg is missing. She also has small scratches on her face that are bleeding a bit, but not as much as her leg. It looks as if it was torn off at the knee, the white bone can be seen protruding out of the stump. Blood covers the entire area her leg rests, and the puddle is steadily growing. She looks absolutely exhausted.

**_Tend to her wounds._**

**_She might still make it._**

**_Have Blake and King release Ren._**

**_Let Ren go to her._**

**_Try to find out what happened to her._**

Ruby motions her hand toward the others, a signal to let Ren go. They hesitate but comply, and let go of his arms. Ren takes a few tentative steps forward. He looks at Ruby, she can see the distress in his eyes, before walking past the doors towards Nora.

Everyone stays outside the doorway, all peeking in to see what happens. As Ren approaches, a small, tired smile shows on Nora's face. When he reaches her he kneels down next to her.

"Nora...?"

Nora continues to smile at him as she slowly raises the hand resting on her belly up toward him. She gradually reaches over to him and gently touches his nose.

"Boop..."

Her hand trembles a lot as she does this action, and she lets her hand fall away from his face. There was blood on her hand, so when she touched his nose the swipe left some blood on it. Ren begins to tear up, but the tears don't fall. Ren lets out a small halfhearted laugh before taking Nora's face in his hands and gently kisses her. He turns his head to look back at the group.

"Ruby, I'll take care of it. Will you lend me the first aid kit?" He says.

Ruby pulls the kit out of her inventory and walks into the hall to them. She hands it to Ren, who thanks her and turns his attention on Nora.

"I'm gonna patch you up, don't worry." He says to her.

He cleans the stump of her leg as best as he can before wrapping it in clean bandages. He puts band-aids on her face as well. Nora smiles at him and gives him a thumbs up.

"You're a good guy, Ren."

Ruby leans down to Ren and whispers to him to ask Nora what happened to her. He does just that, and Nora replies.

"I, I, I...Why don't I remember?" Nora's body begins to shake uncontrollably as she says this. Her pupils turn red, and fangs begin to poke out from her upper lip. Ruby sees this, and apparently so does King.

"Ｒｅｎ! Ｇｅｔ ａｗａｙ ｆｒｏｍ ｈｅｒ! Ｓｈｅ'ｓ ｃｈａｎｇｉｎｇ!" King exclaims.

Ren quickly turns to look at the others, an angry expression on his face. The blood on his nose begins to smoke.

"NO! She's fine." While he does this Nora grabs at her throat and is coughing violently. Choking on the smoke coming from her mouth. It seeps from her eyes as well. He turns back to Nora and holds her close. She grabs onto his arm, and now they're both trembling.

"It's going to be okay. I promise." He says, the tears he'd been holding back pouring down his face. Nora's transformation is happening quickly. Her entire mouth is filled with razor sharp fangs that wear away her lips, making it bleed a lot. The smoke is still billowing out of it. Her ears grow into points, and horns emerge from out of her skull, blood flowing at their base. Her eyes no longer exist, and all of her hair is gone. All that is left is a monster.

One of Ren's guns pops out of his sleeve and he holds it under Nora's chin. He clenches his eyes shut, the tears still flowing freely, and grits his teeth. His hand lightly wavers.

"It's going to be okay." He sobs out.

"You were a good teammate. I love you."

The gunshot's distant echoes could be heard throughout the hallways, but the sounds seem deafening to Ruby.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah. So that happened. Need some fries with your salt? Thanks for reading btw!**


	13. Move Along

**A/N: Ren had to kill his teammate and best friend, that must've been tough. Do you think you could handle doing that, if you were placed in that kind of situation?**

* * *

The silence that settles after the echoes fade completely is broken by Yang.

"I'm gonna fuck the door." She says for no apparent reason. Blake raises both of her arms in desperation as she persuades Yang not to.

"Yang, do not fuck the door."

**_So, King lost his crown._**

**_Dragon Pyrrha kind of destroyed it._**

**_You were supposed to return it._**

**_Is he mad at you?_**

These thoughts make Ruby a bit frantic, as she tries to apologize to King about his crown. He shakes his head and waves his hand at her dismissively.

"I'm not angry at you, Ruby." He says. "I'm angry at myself for giving it to you in the first place."

Well, that's reassuring. She thinks?

**_Hey go see how Ren's doing._**

**_He's got a bit of something on his face there._**

**_Wipe the blood off his face._**

**_It's still smoking._**

**_Try to comfort him._**

Ruby walks over to Ren and cleans the blood off with a wipe from the kit. Ren looks like he's going to throw up. Ruby can't blame him. After all, he had to kill his best friend. Thinking of Nora, Ruby remembers how rad the girl was. Always eager and easily excited by the strangest things. Her outrageous stories were always fun to listen to every lunch hour. Now, Ruby won't get to see or hear that boisterous girl ever again.

After wiping away her tears and calming down a bit, Ruby asks Ren if he wouldn't mind taking a look at Nora's inventory.

"Sure. That's fine." His voices sounds hollow.

He checks her inventory to find only a single note. It's addressed to Ren.

Since it's for Ren Ruby says he can look at it first.

"Thanks." He says stoically.

Ren opens up the note and his eyes rove over its contents. Ren then drops the note onto the ground, and he starts to cry again. Slowly, he brings his gun up to his head, while the tears are streaming down his face. Realizing what he was going to do, Ruby yells, "NO!" as she starts to run towards him. Right as the gunshot fires to end his life, King tackles into him, embracing him in a tight hug. Blake grabs his arm and pulls the gun away from his face, aiming the bullet meant for him toward a wall.

Ren starts to sob uncontrollably at this point, and holds onto King for support. Everyone gathers around him in a protective circle. Ruby cries with him, and notices that even Yang is extremely sad. Her lopsided smile formed into a lopsided frown.

Sniffling, Ruby looks at the floor where the letter had fallen. It had landed itself face up, so Ruby was able to read what it said. It made her cry even more.

_Ren-_

_There is really no easy way to say this. _

_I think it's over for me_

_Keep your head up._

_It will be OKAY. _

_I know you'll love me _

_Whatever happens to me, even if_

_I believe in LOVE you._

Ruby rubs the tears from her eyes. Reading the letter has given her a strong resolve to make Ren realize the value of his life.

"Ren! Don't give up just yet! You need to avenge Nora!" Ren looks up to her, a bit surprised at her sudden outburst. "Think of what she would want for you! She wouldn't want you dead!" Ruby gives him a determined look.

Ren raises a hand to his head as his senses seem to return to him. Blake holds on to his weapons though, just in case.

"Yeah...you're right." King places a hand on his shoulder in reassurance as Ren comes to terms with himself.

Ruby smiles, she's glad Ren finally understands. She rushes over to him and gives him a hug. The others join in, making it into a group hug. King's arms reach around everyone's shoulders, bringing them in. Everyone's spirits seem to be lifted now.

After breaking from the group hug, Ruby's stomach growls loudly. She blushes in embarrassment as everyone looks at her. They all break into laughter, Ruby laughing along with them. When they calm down everyone decides that it's time to head to the cafeteria at last. As they proceed out the door Ruby sees Ren walk over to Nora's corpse.

"We're going now. Bye." He gives a final wave to her before joining the rest of the group.

* * *

**A/N: Finally going to the cafeteria, about dang time! XD Gotta fill those bellies, they just have to hope they don't encounter anything along the way.**


	14. Don't Change Me

**A/N: Tooooooooooooo the cafeteria! Hahah.**

* * *

As they return to the main hallway they've been traveling through, Ruby thinks about her fallen comrades. It seems that whenever someone nears death they become an entity, even Oobleck seemed to be undergoing the same changes. So did that mean that all the entities were former staff and students of Beacon? Ruby paces herself next to King and asks him.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｓｅｅｍｓ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ!" He answers. "Ｗｉｔｈ ｗｈａｔ ｗｅ'ｖｅ ｓｅｅｎ, Ｉ ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ ｗｅ ｈａｖｅ ｄｉｓｃｏｖｅｒｅｄ ｔｈｅｉｒ ｏｒｉｇｉｎｓ!" Ruby nods her head and contemplates to herself further about this information. Soon they arrive at the cafeteria doors. They turn the knobs and find the doors unlocked. Upon entering they find the place relatively empty. As everyone is filing in, Yang rushes to one of the tables and stands atop it. Always having that weird smile, and her eyes still glowing red. Blake goes over to her and attempts to convince her to come down. Ruby smiles at her sister's silly antics. Oh? There's someone else here.

Ruby was a little surprised she didn't notice earlier, probably too exhausted and hungry to remain very alert.

"Hello!" The person says.

It's Velvet! The rabbit Faunus girl waves to Ruby and the gang, smiling at them in relief.

**_HUG VELVET._**

**_HUG THE BUNBUN._**

**_JUST DO IT._**

Elated at finding another friend who is actually alive and well, Ruby rushes over to her. "Velvet!" She says as she takes the girl in an embrace over the table she's seated at. Velvet stands up to hug back, and Ruby starts squishing their faces together affectionately. "Hello Ruby."

Ruby then asks her if the cafeteria is safe and if she's seen any others.

"There hasn't been anyone or anything through here for hours! It's safe, I think. No one else is here. I haven't seen anyone." She informs.

As they start catching up, the others come over to join in. Velvet gasps when she sees King, but Ruby quickly tells the girl that he is an ally. Velvet looks between King and Ruby before nodding her head, satisfied and willing to trust in Ruby. King sighs in relief. While the others talk with Velvet, Ruby decides to continue the discussion with King. She had to ask him about something she thought of during their last conversation.

"Then what about you King?" She asks. "Did you originate from one of the staff or students?"

King puts a hand on his block face, the other arm crossed over his body and resting on the elbow. His single large eye furrows in thought as he considers Ruby's question.

"Ｔｈａｔ...ｉｓ ｖｅｒｙ ｌｉｋｅｌｙ...ｂｕｔ...ｗｈｏ?" King looks like he doesn't enjoy this line of thinking.

Ruby decides to ask him if the name 'Ozpin' means anything to him.

"Ｏｚｐｉｎ ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｍｉｓｓｉｎｇ ｈｅａｄｍａｓｔｅｒ ｏｆ Ｂｅａｃｏｎ..." He takes a seat at one of the many tables. Hunched over, he props his head in his hands, his elbows resting on the table. His eyes is now a mouth, and he sticks out his tongue, seeming to be frustrated. "Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ...ａｌｌ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ."

Ruby rubs a hand on the back of her head, unsure on how to proceed. Then she remembers about his crown and goes to apologize again.

"Hey, uh, about the crown-" Ruby starts to reach for his shoulder to comfort him, but doesn't get to finish as King interrupts her.

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｃａｒｅ ａｎｙｍｏｒｅ." He lets his face slam onto the table, leaving his hands still up in the air. The others come over to join them, settling around the table King's seated at. Trying to break the awkward feeling she was having, Ruby looks to Velvet and inquires her about her inventory. Velvet shows her that she only has one item. A huge knife. Most likely one from the kitchen area.

Ruby looks back at King to see his head still face down on the table. She asks him why he isn't insane like the others.

King moves his head slightly, only enough to be able to speak. "Ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｓｅｔ ｏｆ ｒａｎｄｏｍ ｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｓｔｉｃｓ. Ｔｈｅ ｔｈｒｅｅ ｍａｉｎ ｏｎｅｓ ａｒｅ ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ, ｒｏａｍｉｎｇ, ａｎｄ ｌｉｇｈｔ ｓｅｎｓｉｔｉｖｉｔｙ." He raises one hand and puts up the same number of fingers of the characteristics he's listed. His other hand is also raised, pointing at the other.

"Ｔｈｅｙ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｈａｖｅ ｉｄｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｏｒ ｐｅｒｏｎａｌｉｔｉｅｓ, ｏｎｌｙ ｂａｓｉｃ ｉｎｓｔｉｎｃｔｓ." He elaborates.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｔｈｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｏｎｅ Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｔｈｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｄｉｓｃｏｖｅｒｅｄ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ ｗｉｔｈ ａ ｓｅｎｓｅ ｏｆ ｓｅｌｆ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＭＥ." He declares. "Ｆｏｒｃｅｄ Ｍｏｖｅ Ｋｉｎｇ ｉｓ ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ. Ｇｒｅｅｎ ｉｓ ｍｙ ｆａｖｏｒｉｔｅ ｃｏｌｏｒ. Ｉ'ｍ ａ ｈｅ ａｎｄ ｌｉｋｅ ｃｈｅｓｓ. Ｍｙ ｂｏｄｙ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｄｅｆｉｎｅ ｍｅ.Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ａｍ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｆｅｅｌｉｎｇ ｉｓ ｗｈａｔ ｓｅｐｅｒａｔｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅｍ."

Ruby looks at him sympathetically.

"King. You know why I asked you if you recognized the name Ozpin. It's because I thought you looked a lot like him." Ruby explains to him.

After a pause, King raises his head to prop on his hands again. He looks down at the table, his eye looking solemn.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ...ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ." A long pause. "Ｉ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ. Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｒｙ ｔｏ ｃｈａｎｇｅ ｍｅ ｉｎｔｏ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｅｌｓｅ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｉｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ." He sounds melancholic at his last words.

* * *

**A/N: Do you want King to change, or do you think he is his own person now? Thanks for reading, and don't forget to follow the comic if you want to see more recent stuffs.**


	15. Aggression, Roaming, and Light

**A/N: Yay! The BunBun still lives! How many of you were not expecting her to be one of the survivors?**

* * *

Ruby walks around the table and approaches him.

"Hey man, you wanna hug?" King turns to face her, a hand still rubbing his face. "Ｙｅａｈ, ａ ｌｉｌ." Ruby smiles at him and moves in for the hug, he hugs her back and after a few seconds they move apart.

"What's your favorite food King?" She asks. "Ｉ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｌｉｋｅｄ ｔｈａｔ ｃｈｏｃｏｌａｔｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｂｅｆｏｒｅ...ａｌｓｏ ｓｔｒａｗｂｅｒｒｉｅｓ."

She nods her head, tucking that bit of info away for later. She then asks if he can go into more detail about the three instincts. If he doesn't mind of course.

"It might give us ideas to help defeat any monsters we encounter in the future."

He gives her a warm look and nods his head.

"Ｏｋ! Ｈｅｒｅ Ｉ ｇｏ!" He starts, looking pumped to help.

"Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｉ'ｌｌ ｓｔａｒｔ ｗｉｔｈ Ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｏｎ. Ｎｏｎ ａｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｗｉｌｌ ｎｏｔ ａｔｔａｃｋ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ. Ｔｈｏｓｅ ｔｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅｗｈａｔ ａｇｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｗｉｌｌ ｏｃｃａｓｉｏｎａｌｌｙ ａｔｔａｃｋ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｈａｐｐｅｎ ｔｏｏ ｏｆｔｅｎ. Ａｎｄ ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ ｖｅｒｙ ａｇｇｒｅｓｓｉｖｅ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｗｉｌｌ ａｔｔａｃｋ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｏｒ ａｎｙｏｎｅ."

"Ｎｅｘｔ ｉｓ Ｒｏａｍｉｎｇ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｔｈａｔ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｍｏｖｅ ｗｈａｔｓｏｅｖｅｒ. Ｔｈｅｙ ａｒｅ ｓｔａｔｉｏｎａｒｙ, ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｓｔａｔｕｅ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ｔｈａｔ ｈａｖｅ ｒｅｓｔｒｉｃｔｉｏｎｓ ｔｏ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｔｈｅｙ ｍｏｖｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ ｒｅｍａｉｎ ｉｎ ａ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎ ａｒｅａ ａｎｄ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｃｒｏｓｓ ｏｖｅｒ ｔｏ ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ. Ｏｔｈｅｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ａｒｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｆｒｅｅ ｒｏａｍ ｊｕｓｔ ａｂｏｕｔ ａｎｙｗｈｅｒｅ ｔｈｅｙ ｗａｎｔ."

"Ｆｉｎａｌｌｙ ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ Ｌｉｇｈｔ Ｓｅｎｓｉｔｉｖｉｔｙ. Ｓｏｍｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ ａｒｅ ｕｎａｆｆｅｃｔｅｄ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｌｉｇｈｔ, ｗｈｉｌｅ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｍａｙ ｂｅ ａｔｔｒａｃｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｉｔ. Ｔｈｅｎ ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｏｎｅｓ ｗｈｏ ｆｌｅｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｉｔ."

King takes in a deep breath as he finishes. "Ｉ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｍｕｃｈ ｉｔ."

Everyone in the group considers his words until low rumbles are emitted from some of their stomachs.

**_HUNGRY!_**

**_FOOD!_**

**_NEED SUSTENANCE!_**

Ruby stands up and announces to the others that it's time to raid the kitchen.

"Everyone, to the kitchen!" She says, leading the way while the others follow behind in a line.

When they enter Ruby sees a large fridge and heads to it first. Opening it wide enough for everyone to be able to see, she peers inside to see what selections are to be had. She notices that there's a little box with strawberries inside. Remembering that King liked them she plucked it out before anyone could touch it and walks out to the cafeteria towards King. Ruby gives them to King, who looks extremely happy. A cute and goofy smile on his face. "Oh gosh." He says, taking the box.

Before Ruby walks away he grabs her attention, wanting to speak with her.

"Ｕｍ, Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｃａｎ Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｓｅｃｏｎｄ? Ｉ, ｕｈ...ｈａｖｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｓａｙ." Ruby smiles and nods her head.

"Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｊｏｕｒｎａｌ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｓｏ ｍａｄ. Ｉｔ ｗａｓ ｕｎｆａｉｒ." He pauses, nervously rubbing the back of his head before continuing. "Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ, ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｒｅａｄ ｉｔ."

Ruby tells him that she would like to read the journal. He nods and pulls it from his inventory, handing it over to her. He sits down at his table and proceeds to eat his strawberries.

* * *

**A/N: The way to a man's heart is his stomach. Hahah. Now we'll get to see what's in that journal of his. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the actual game/comic on tumblr (therwbyquest) that this is based off on.**


	16. King's Journal

**A/N: Title pretty much explains this chapter.**

* * *

Ruby opens the journal and starts flipping through it. The first pages have been ripped out for some reason.

"Ｔｈｅｙ' ｗｅｒｅ ｌｉｋｅ ｔｈａｔ ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｆｏｕｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｂｏｏｋ." King says around a mouthful of strawberries.

Ruby returns her attention to the journal. The first legible entry is very short. It's written in green ink, like what's in King's pen nib.

_I've lost so much along the way. There was a time when I thought we had succeeded, and that those sacrifices had been worth something. I was wrong. I was wrong all along._

Ruby isn't sure she wants to keep reading, but King urges her on.

"Ｙｏｕ ｍｉｇｈｔ ｂｅ ａｂｌｅ ｔｏ ｍａｋｅ ｍｏｒｅ ｓｅｎｓｅ ｏｕｔ ｏｆ ｉｔ ｔｈａｎ Ｉ ｃａｎ." He says.

The next entry is just as cryptic.

_I haven't seen G in a few days. I think she is avoiding me._

_I would too._

_I don't want to know how much loss this will cause. B is starting to feel ill. We are at a loss. If only I hadn't been so foolish._

_G came back today. Conditions are severe. There's almost no one left. Everyone had either abandoned Beacon or disappeared._

_I'm afraid this is the end of Beacon._

_G is still here. She has not left. She must be some kind of saint. I know she doesn't like this. She should leave. This is my responsibility._

_The captain goes down with the ship._

_B is showing signs and bleeding. He describes a burning sensation. G sent him to the infirmary. He has not returned._

_It's just me and her now. B isn't coming back. The days pass so slowly here. If it wasn't for the sun, I would not be able to tell one day from the next. We are making due, but it's not looking good. _

_G is having problems. It's hard for her._

_She is hiding it, but I know her._

_It's over. G is showing signs._

_I don't know what to do. We haven't been able to find a cure._

_I can't bring myself to kill her. I can't. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do._

_I wish I could take it all back._

_I wish she had left when she could've. She was so stubborn. She's so stupid! I can't believe her._

_I'm going to miss her so much._

_It should've just been me. I should've been the only one to suffer. Yet I'm still alive and healthy, and everyone else is..._

_G is getting worse by the hour. She is begging for death._

_I am a cowardly man._

_I did what had to be done. I'm sorry, Glynda._

_I couldn't fulfill your wish. It's too late now._

_I feel a burning sensation._

_The burning never stops. I am going to the tower. None of this must ever escape Beacon._

_It will fall, and I fall with it._

_I will seal everything inside the school. To those who are still alive: I'm sorry._

_It has been done. From the tower, I can see every part of the school. I saw a student today. He was looking up at the sky, wondering why it was so dark._

_I'm sorry I couldn't save you._

_I am ready. The burning sensation is in every part of me. My eyes hurt. I know that it's coming._

_I don't want this._

_My only comfort is knowing that this will never escape this place. People will look to Beacon in wonder, asking what happened, and no one will answer. I will die, and the truth will die with me. It's almost like I can hear her voice berating me for what I did._

_She never went against me, not even once._

_I wish she had stopped me from the beginning._

_I miss her._

The rest of the page is blackened and covered in soot. The next page is in a different handwriting.

_Hello. I think my name is Forced Move King._

There's a small doodle of King next to the sentence.

_I think I want to be called King._

_I think I will take this book with me, in case I think of something interesting to write down!_

_Some monster attacked me today! How scary... I think I want to write down what I saw._

_Here's a picture -_

There's a doodle of a figure that looks like it has spikes on its head and large clawed hands. It seems like there is some sort of spikes or something below its torso as well.

_He was really aggressive to me!_

_He even followed me out when I ran away._

_It was really scary._

_I saw another monster. It was far away._

_I'm going to write down all of them, and name them._

_Today I met a monster that already had a name!_

_How strange._

_Just like when I woke up and knew my name was King, I just knew!_

_Here's a picture of it -_

The entity is some sort of large winged creature that walks on all fours. It has a massive jaw full of fangs, and what might be horns coming out of its head.

Near it is another doodle of an astonished King, his hands on his face in surprise.

_Its name is Sky-High Ursa Knight._

_It's very aggressive!_

_It followed me all the way into the school!_

_It didn't come inside though. I wonder why._

_Could it be the light?_

_I had another dream about her._

_I don't know who she is._

_In my dreams, we are friends. We have meals together, and laugh about things, and sometimes we just sit together quietly and enjoy each other's company._

_I wish I could remember her face, or even just her name..._

_When I wake up and she's not there, it makes me very sad._

_I feel hollow inside._

_:(_

_Tick-Tock Square Escape_

_Aggressive_

_Does not leave gardens_

_Unknown light reaction_

There's a drawing of the hulking beast next to its description. A caption of it growling over its head. Guess that explains why it didn't chase them outside of the gardens before.

_Stone Square Castling_

_Somewhat aggressive_

_Roams everywhere_

_Seems attracted to light_

Its drawing makes it seem like a tall being. It has two massive arms that hang down close to its feet, and large eyes as well. There are lines drawn across its arms and part of its head, it looks like it could be some sort of material for clothing.

_Turn Check Rook_

_Aggressive_

_?_

_Attracted to light_

This entity looks a lot like its name. It is lanky looking with thin arms. Its head is shaped like the top part of a rook chess piece. There looks like something covers its mouth, but it's hard to tell since it is only scribbles. There also seems to be something wrapped around its lower left leg.

_Back Rank Knight_

_Somewhat aggressive_

_Roams dorm hallways (I think?)_

_Repulsed by light_

Ruby remembers this creature just by looking at King's drawing. It's the same one she encountered when trying to save Weiss.

The next entity is one that Ruby is also familiar with.

_Black Queen Sword_

_AGGRESSIVE_

_ROAMING_

_! ! ? ?! ? UNKNOWN_

Next to the text is a picture of Pyrrha. Well, in her recently attained dragon form.

_Pyrrha Nikos turned into an entity right before my eyes! Is this where we come from?_

_..._

_I wonder...was I someone else before, too?_

_I don't remember anything._

_I keep dreaming about her._

_I just...I think...If I was someone else before..._

An arrow points at the line, with the text "I hope not" at its end.

_I think she was important to me._

_If only I could remember who she is._

_I think I might've loved her._

There's a doodle of an exasperated King. Both of his arms raised in the air, with the following text beside it.

_I don't know anything about myself._

That's the last entry.

* * *

**A/N: We learn things about the entities, and a bit about the origins of this crazy situation. But there's still a shroud of mystery~ Ohohoho! XD Thanks for reading!**


	17. Kingpin Has A Sin

**A/N: Well we've learned a lot from that journal about the entities. Those earlier entries though, the writer seemed awfully familiar don'cha think?.**

* * *

Ruby is curious about these dreams King mentions in his entries.

"What kind of dreams do you have of this woman King?"

King sets aside his strawberries on the table.

"Ｖｅｒｙ ｎｉｃｅ ｏｎｅｓ!" He says. Smiling adorably and putting his hands where his cheeks would be to contain a blush. Ruby can't help but smile with him.

"Ｉ ｆｅｅｌ ｈａｐｐｙ ｗｈｅｎ ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ. Ｓｈｅ ｍａｋｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｅｅｌ ｗｈｏｌｅ. Ｉ ｗｉｓｈ ｄｒｅａｍｓ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｌａｓｔ ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ."

Ruby ponders over this before a single thought rings through her mind.

**_Glynda Goodwitch._**

Ruby remembered how she thought King looked like Ozpin. Maybe this woman in his dreams could have been Glynda?

"Does the name 'Glynda Goodwitch' ring any bells for you?" Ruby asks him.

"Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ. Ｔｈａｔ ｓｏｕｎｄｓ...ｒｅａｌｌｙ...ｆａｍｉｌｉａｒ." King closes his eye and rubs a hand on his head in thought.

"Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｈｏｗ ｄｏ Ｉ...ｋｎｏｗ ｈｅｒ? Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｇｌｙｎｄａ. Ｇｌｙｎｄａ..." Suddenly his eye snaps open in shock. It seems he remembers something, but it didn't seem happy.

Ruby becomes worried as she sees King crying, tears pouring from his eye.

"ＯＨ ＧＯＤ. ＷＨＡＴ ＤＩＤ Ｉ ＤＯ ＴＯ ＹＯＵ? ＧＬＹＮＤＡ, Ｉ, Ｉ, ＯＨ ＧＯＤ Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯ ＳＯＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯｒｒｙ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ." King holds his head with both hands, panicked and sweating. Ruby isn't sure what to do, so she just speaks her mind. And hopes for the best.

"King! King, listen! Whoever you were in you past was important for us to have known to solve this. But you're also your own person right now! You're Forced Move King, the guy that's been able to help us get so far safely! You're not the man you were that made the mistake, and we know that! Right now, if there's any way to save the others, we need to do everything we can to fix this! What Ozpin couldn't do...We could do it together! So don't give up! We-We need you...!" Ruby took in a deep breath after finishing her rant. She hope she got through to him.

King's eye was replaced with a mouth, and instead of tears there was blood pouring from it. He had one hand against his head, as if he was having a headache.

"I'm not him. Ozpin is not me. I am King." Ruby sighed in relief, it seems the rant worked.

"BUT THE FAULT IS MINE!" Or not.

Ruby was going to try and comfort him again, but then Yang stepped forward and spoke.

"Ｋｉｎｇｐｉｎ ｈａｓ ａ ｓｉｎ..."She spoke eerily. Her ever present smile and red glow in her eyes made Ruby feel afraid. What was Yang talking about? Yang continued to slowly approach King she spoke.

"Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｏｆ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ, ｐｅｏｐｌｅ ｄｉｅ. Ｄｕｅ ｔｏ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ, ａ ｇｒｅａｔ ｍａｎｙ ｈｕｍａｎｓ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｓｃｈｏｏｌ ｄｉｅ. Ｎｏ ｏｎｅ ｅｓｃａｐｅｓ. Ａｌｌ ｄｉｅ." Yang was close enough to him now that she grabbed him by his scarf and forced him down, so that she loomed over him.

"Ｉｇｎｏｒａｎｃｅ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｃｌｅａｎｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｏｆ ｓｉｎ." Spikes had appeared out of Yang's arms and spine. Ruby could see razor sharp fangs inside of her mouth. Yang? Ruby was scared. She didn't know what to do. Yang would know what to do, but she wasn't exactly herself right now.

"Ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｙｏｕ ｓｉｎ, ｔｈｅｎ ｔｈａｔ ｉｔｓｅｌｆ ｉｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｓｉｎ!" Yang bellowed into King's face.

Before anyone else could react, a brown blur shot past Ruby towards Yang. Ruby could hear the sound of a blade slicing into flesh, and shuddered. There Velvet stood, holding the handle of her huge knife, which was now covered in Yang's blood.

"You're not Yang." She said, her voice slightly quavering and the fear apparent on her face.

Ruby was in shock.

Velvet just stabbed Yang.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Ruby yelled at the girl frantically. "What do you mean she's not Yang?"

Velvet looked at Ruby in pity. "This is clearly not Yang." She pointed at said girl. "It's written all over her face. I don't know how you've been able to ignore it!"

Ruby looked at her sister, expecting to see her bowled over in pain. However, Yang seemed unaffected by the attack. She merely let go of her grasp on King and marveled at the knife in the side of her body.

Ruby thinks she knew. She knew ever since she first found Yang that something was off. She just didn't want to admit it to herself, or the others. She was just so happy to be able to be with her big sister. To have a sense of security knowing that she always had her back. That she wouldn't leave her like Summer did. But now the illusion was shattered.

This was not Yang.

Blake stepped up beside a distraught Ruby and spoke to her fellow Faunus.

"Hang on...Then who is that? And where is Yang?"

Velvet was still pointing at 'Yang' as she spoke.

"That, is an entity...obviously. I don't know where Yang is. She could be dead, for all we know."

Yang, or whatever it was, looked at them curiously. Her eyes glowing brighter than ever, and the spikes still present on her body. The knife was still in her side, blood flowing from the wound. Her lopsided mouth had blood trickling out of its corner as well.

King was behind them, looking confused at something on his head. Ruby couldn't focus on him very well due to shock, but it looked like a tiara or something. Right now that didn't matter, all that mattered was Yang.

**_We need to check if Velvet's telling the truth._**

**_There's only one way to prove this._**

**_Cut off a piece of Yang's hair._**

**_Just do it._**

Ruby was dazed, but the thoughts were clear in her mind. She nodded to herself dumbly before walking forward. Stumbling a bit as she neared Yang. She reached a hand out tentatively for her hair.

"I'm doing this because I love you." She told Yang before grabbing a fistful of her hair. Ruby flinched back, waiting for Yang to erupt into flames and tell her she was crazy for doing this. But none of that came. There was only a drawled "Duuuude." Ruby took the knife out of her inventory, and cut a large portion of Yang's hair. Letting it float to the floor.

Again there was no eruption. She looked at the locks that had fallen on the ground and wanted to cry. A small sob was heard, but it wasn't from her. When she looked up, she was surprised to look into her 'sister's' tear filled red eyes. She was still smiling though, always smiling.

Ruby took a step back when the entity moved to pull the knife out it its body, causing more blood to gush out. The tears were streaming nonstop down its face as it moved the knife close to its head. With its other hand, it grabbed a handful of golden hair and sliced the bloody knife through it. Letting it fall to the ground as well.

**_Ask this...thing why._**

**_Why has it been following us?_**

**_What did it do to Yang?_**

**_The real Yang._**

Ruby tried her best to compose herself, her thoughts the only things keeping her sane at the moment.

"Why were you travelling with us?" She choked out, trying to keep herself from sobbing. "What have you done to my sister?!" Ruby raised her voice at it.

"Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｔｏ."

It covered its ears with both hands, closing its eyes in distress.

"Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

* * *

**A/N: So tell me, how many of you were expecting this turn of events? And here is the chapter where the whole Stabbun thing was being referred to in my Prepare For Trouble fic. Stabbun has revealed, or at least made it more obvious, that Yang is not exactly 'Yang' anymore. How will things unfold? Dun dun dun! Thanks for reading!**


	18. Dead Draw Domination

**A/N: The team has discovered that an entity has been impersonating Yang, or something like that. Let's find out how things go with this new revelation.**

* * *

Ruby asked the entity for its name. She couldn't call it Yang anymore. It would hurt too much.

"Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ...Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ Ｄｅａｄ Ｄｒａｗ Ｄｏｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎ."

It crossed both arms over its chest, tears still trailing down its face.

"Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ 'Ｙａｎｇ'."

"Wait...Where's Yang, then?" Ruby asked. Her feelings conflicted between hope and disappointment.

"Ｙａｎｇ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ." It simply said. It had stopped crying now.

"So, Dead Draw Domination, what do you mean Yang doesn't exist? Are you implying that she wasn't real? That is was you the whole time?" Ruby didn't like this one bit.

"Ｃａｌｌ ｍｅ 3Ｄ." It told her nonchalantly.

"Ａｎｄ Ｉ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｓａｉｄ Ｙａｎｇ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌ. Ｉ ｓａｉｄ ｓｈｅ ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ." It said matter of factly.

Ruby looks at 3D's bloody hip.

"Do you want to bandage those wounds?" Ruby asked it. It was a harmless gesture, and 3D had not attacked them yet, so Ruby guessed it wasn't very hostile. 3D shook its head and touched the cut.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｆｉｎｅ."

She removed her hands and revealed the blood flow to have stopped. The cut was gone.

"Ｓｅｅ? Ｆｉｉｉｉｉｎｅ."

Now Ruby wasn't sure she felt safe around the entity.

"Are you going to attack us?" She asked it tentatively.

It gave her a wicked grin.

"Ｍａｙｂｅ. Ｍａｙｂｅ ｎｏｔ. Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｄｅｃｉｄｅ ｙｅｔ."

Well that's reassuring.

Ruby readied her Crescent Rose, unfolding it into scythe mode. Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud as well, switching it to its pistol mode and aiming it at 3D. She looked really mad.

3D causally looked at them, swaying both hands out to the sides.

"Ｈｅｙ, ｈｅｙ, ｈｅｙ...Ｔｈｅｒｅ'ｓ ｎｏ ｎｅｅｄ ｆｏｒ ｔｈａｔ." Ｓｈｅ ｃｈｕｃｋｌｅｄ. "Ｃａｌｍ ｄｏｗｎ. Ｉｔ'ｓ ｇｏｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｆｉｉｉｉｉｎｅ."

Ruby remembered then that Blake had kissed this entity earlier, though that's when they thought it was still Yang. She whispered to her, asking if she was alright after all that. Now that she thought of it, it was probably a bad time to bring it up.

Blake spat on the floor in disgust, as if trying to get rid of the taste.

"I hope you're happy." She said menacingly to 3D, her glare looked as if it could cut through steel.

3D simply stared at in in amusement.

"Ａｌｌ ｔｈｅ ｔｉｍｅ."

Blake gritted her teeth and looked like she was about to pull the trigger, but Ruby stopped her. Placing a hand on top of her weapon, making her lower it a bit.

"Don't shoot 3D! She might be needed to get Yang back!" Ruby explained.

Ruby then turned to 3D.

"Are you Yang's entity or something?" She asked. Apparently this wasn't the correct way to go about the subject, for 3D glared at her angrily.

"Ｉ ＡＭ ＮＯＴ 'ＹＡＮＧ'Ｓ'. Ｉ ＢＥＬＯＮＧ ＴＯ ＮＯ ＯＮ. Ｉ ＡＭ ＭＹ ＯＷＮ." It growled. Its large upper fangs piercing the skin on its lower lip.

Ruby asked the next question carefully.

"Is Yang in there at all?"

3D looks at her in amusement.

"Ｉｎ ｗｈｅｒｅ?" It points to its head. "Ｙｏｕ ｍｅａｎ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｈｅｒｅ?"

Suddenly 3D rushes forward at Blake, causing Ruby to stumble backward. It grabs Blake's black neck scarf and pulls her close to its face.

"ＹＡＮＧ ＮＯ ＬＯＮＧＥＲ ＥＸＩＳＴＳ." A creepy grin on its face. Its red eyes boring into Blake's.

To Ruby's surprise, the Faunus girl remains relatively calm. Then she notices Blake's weapon aiming under 3D's chin, making its grin disappear.

"Don't think for a second that I won't do it." She says.

3D doesn't move, nor breaks eye contact with Blake.

"Ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ."

"But it will hurt."

"Ｇｏ ａｈｅａｄ."

Ruby places herself between the two before anything else could happen. Blake lowers her weapon, still glowering at 3D. While the entity looks at Ruby with a bit of surprise.

"Why are you trying to make Blake kill you?" She asks it exasperatedly.

"Ｔｒｙｉｎｇ ｔｏ...ｍａｋｅ ｙｏｕ? Ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ?" It says slowly. Then it gets an angry expression.

"Ｉ'Ｍ ＮＯＴ ＭＡＫＩＮＧ ＹＯＵ ＤＯ ＡＮＹＴＨＩＮＧ." It practically roars.

"Ｉ ＡＬＲＥＡＤＹ ＴＯＬＤ ＹＯＵ, ＩＴ ＷＯＮ'Ｔ ＫＩＬＬ ＭＥ. ＧＯ ＡＨＥＡＤ, ＩＦ ＩＴ ＭＡＫＥＳ ＹＯＵ ＦＥＥＬ ＢＥＴＴＥＲ."

3D calms down after that last bit. Closing its eyes and remaining neutral. When it speaks again, its voice is much calmer than before.

"Hey...Blake?" It sounded exactly like Yang. Like her dear older sister. Ruby wasn't sure she could contain her emotions anymore.

"Let's become monsters together, and lay waste to this world. We'll wipe out everything. Don't you think that sounds nice?" The tone sounded hopeful.

"Never." And Blake pulled the trigger, firing a shot straight into 3D's chest. It stumbled back a few inches from the impact before falling to the ground. Landing on its backside, 3D propped itself on one arm, placing the other over the hole. It looked down at the wound for a minute.

"..."

When it raised its head Ruby gasped, and Blake began to cry, holding a hand over her mouth.

Her eyes. It was HER eyes. It was Yang's lilac colored eyes that looked at them.

"I guess not." It said with tears streaming down its face.

"You're not her." Blake muffled. She covered half of her face as she sobbed into her hand.

* * *

**A/N: Just so ya know, I was extremely salty when writing this. Got all depressed n everything, walking around my house sighing n whatnot XD. I hope it had a similar effect on you guys. Tho I hope it didn't make you super depressed, don't want to make ya miserable, just having sympathy with the characters. Anyways enjoy drowning in salty waterfall of tears, Imma go cry in a corner now XD. Thanks for reading!**


	19. Because I Love You

**A/N: "Shot through the heart and you're to blame. You give love a bad name." Hahah. There's a tumblr post depicting last chapter's scene with that song, it's so perf.**

* * *

As they watched 3D bleed on the floor, they realized it was still conscious and obviously not dead. Just as it said. Ruby asked King if entities could be killed.

"Of course we can be killed. What kind of question is that?" Ruby shrugged, she was confused by 3D. Was she some sort of special entity that couldn't be killed?

Ruby turned her attention on 3D, ready for another round of interrogation.

"Why were your eyes lilac? Why were they like Yang's?"

3D was gazing at the gunshot wound before Ruby caught its attention. When 3D looked at her, its eyes were no longer the familiar color Ruby knew, but that ever glowing red.

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈａｔ ｙｏｕ ｍｅａｎ. Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｄｕｍｂ." It stuck out its tongue at her.

"Why haven't you attacked us? Even though we've harmed you twice already."

3D stuck its tongue back in its mouth and grinned widely at them. Actually closing its eyes in a squint, and its red glow brighten considerably, even shining through its closed eyes.

"Ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ." It told them cheerfully.

Blake had stopped sobbing moments ago, but tears continued to stream down her face again. Ruby frowned; wishing it was her sister actually saying those words and not some monster.

"Don't say that." The two girls said unison.

"So, um, how are you holding up?" Ruby asked.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｆｉｎｅ ｄｕｄｅ. Ｉｔ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｋｉｌｌ ｍｅ. Ａｓ ｌｏｎｇ ａｓ 3Ｄ ｉｓ ｈｅｒｅ, ｉｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｂｅ ｆｉｎｅ." 3D moved its hand away from its chest briefly when saying this. She leaned back a bit, and smiled wickedly at Blake when it spoke again.

"Ｇｏｏｄ ｊｏｂ ａｌｍｏｓｔ ｍｕｒｄｅｒｉｎｇ Ｙａｎｇ ｔｈｏｕｇｈ. Ｈａ ｈａ ｈａ." Blake glared at it, but didn't move or speak. 3D then straightened up quickly, having a surprised look.

"Ｈａｎｇ ｏｎ! Ｔｈａｔ ｇｉｖｅｓ ｍｅ ａｎ ｉｄｅａ." It gripped its chest wound a bit, and grinned cruelly.

"Ｗｈａｔ ｉｆ Ｉ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｈｅａｌ? Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｓｔａｙ ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ." It said dreamily.

"Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｃａｍｅ ｂａｃｋ ｎｏｗ, ｓｈｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｄｉｅ. Ｗｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｂｏｔｈ ｄｉｅ. Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｄｉｅｓ, ｓｏ ｄｏ Ｉ. Ｏｆ ｃｏｕｒｓｅ, ｔｈｅ ｏｐｐｏｓｉｔｅ ｉｓ ａｌｓｏ ｔｒｕｅ." 3D looked at them expectantly.

"Ｓｏ ｗｈａｔ ｗｉｌｌ ｉｔ ｂｅ?"

Now Ruby was really confused.

"How can you threaten us about killing Yang if 'Yang doesn't exist'?"

3D stood up, placing a hand against her hip and holding the other out with the palm upward.

"Ａｌｒｉｇｈｔ ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｇｅｔ ｓｃｈｏｏｌｅｄ."Its lopsided smile had returned.

"Ｏｎｅ: Ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ, ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｉｔ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｗｉｌｌ! Ｔｗｏ: Ｊｕｓｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ, ｄｏｅｓｎ'ｔ ｍｅａｎ ｉｔ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｒｅａｌ!" It looks at Ruby eagerly.

Ruby takes a moment to consider this claim. Her brow furrows deep in thought, but she can't make heads or tails of it. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense.

"How can something that no longer exists be real?" She asked it.

3D had both hands against her hips now and looked off into the distance, grinning goofily.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｐｒｅｔｔｙ ｍｙｓｔｅｒｉｏｕｓ. Ｙｏｕ'ｌｌ ｊｕｓｔ ｈａｖｅ ｔｏ put your faith in me." Somehow 3D's voice sounded just like Yang's at the end of its sentence. Ruby looked at it questioningly, but it seemed to avoid admitting to the change.

"Ｗａｉｔ ｗｈａｔ? Ｗｈａｔ ｗａｓ ｔｈａｔ? Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ! Ｈａ ｈａ ｈａ ｈａ!" It shrugged its arms.

"You claimed that you loved me. Why do you love me?" Ruby said.

3D spread its arms to the side, as if waiting for an embrace.

"Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ａｌｗａｙｓ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｙｏｕ. Ｉ ｈａｖｅ ｎｅｖｅｒ ｌｏｖｅｄ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｔｈｅ ｗａｙ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."It grinned at her cheerfully.

"Ｉ ｗａｓ ｂｏｒｎ ｌｏｖｉｎｇ ｙｏｕ. Ｄｏ Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ａ ｒｅａｓｏｎ? Ｈｏｗ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ ｌｏｖｅ?" 3D had tears starting to pour from its eyes.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｈｕｒｔｓ, ｙｏｕ ｋｎｏｗ! Ｔｈｅ ｐａｉｎ'ｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ ｈｅｒｅ ｉｎ ｍｙ ｃｈｅｓｔ!" It placed a hand over where its heart would be.

Ruby came up with a sudden thought. Perhaps a deal could be struck with this entity.

"If there's something you want and we can get it, would that be enough for you to bring Yang back?"

3D continued its waterfall of tears and holding its heart.

"Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ ｂｕｔ ｔｏ ｌｉｖｅ, ｔｏ ｌｏｖｅ, ｔｏ ｂｅ ｌｏｖｅｄ, ａｎｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ ｍｅ." 3D spoke mournfully.

"Ｐｌｅａｓｅ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｅｒａｓｅ ｍｅ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｉｔ'ｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｔ ｗａｙ."

**_This is getting us nowhere._**

**_Make sure everyone's ready._**

**_We need to move on._**

Ruby was so preoccupied with 3D that she forgot all about their main quest to escape. Ruby felt hyped and ready to move out. Time to get shit done. She thought. Flexing her arms and having a serious look on her face. But on Ruby it just made her look like a dork.

Ruby was pulled from her thoughts when she heard Blake chuckle. "Uh...Ruby?" She said while wiping away the last of her tears, a small smile returning on her face. Ruby tilted her head to the side in question, and Blake pointed behind her. Oh. It seems that the others had decided to sleep.

King sat against a wall, while Velvet and Ren rested against him. Ren was also sitting up somewhat, resting his head on King's shoulder. Velvet was curled up on the floor, using his lap as a pillow. Ruby smiled at the scene. Guess it was time they had some sleep, while they had the chance.

Ruby told Blake to go rest, while she took the first watch. She asked 3D whether it was going to stay up too or go to sleep. 3D looked at her wearily.

"Ｙｅａｈ ｎｏ, Ｉ'ｍ ｇｏｎｎａ ｃａｔｃｈ ｓｏｍｅ Ｚ'ｓ ｄｕｄｅ." It walked toward the others general area, but slept further away from them.

* * *

**A/N: They have been doing a lot of things, can't believe they didn't pass out sooner. It's funny how the situation kinda resolved itself huh XD. Next chapter is going to be insanely cray, like you don't even know. And you really wouldn't if you don't follow the comic on tumblr, or join in the irc chat once in a while. That's okay tho, I'll try my best to keep it awesome for ya. Thanks for reading!**


	20. Dreamweaver

**A/N: I always try to have something to say in each chapter cuz it looks empty when I don't see this bold lettering up here XD. Just so ya know when you come across "WQ" it's read as "dub cue". Okay? Okies.**

* * *

Ruby sits alone on one of the tables, watching over everyone. Minutes pass. Each minute feels like an hour. Hours pass, each of them feeling like a day. After about four hours, King wakes up suddenly. Ruby just sits there and watches, a hand under her chin, with her elbow propped on her leg. She had to sit like this after her head kept nodding when she felt really tired.

King carefully moves everyone off of him and walks over to Ruby.

"Ｗｈｙ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａｗａｋｅ? Ｗｈｙ ｈａｖｅｎ'ｔ ｙｏｕ ｓｗｉｔｃｈｅｄ ｗｉｔｈ ａｎｙｏｎｅ ｙｅｔ? Ｙｏｕ ｎｅｅｄ ｓｌｅｅｐ Ｒｕｂｙ."

Ruby gives him a tired smile. It's nice of him to be worried about her.

"It's ok, I can take it. I already slept earlier when I was healing from a wound."

King frowns, then holds a hand out to Ruby.

"Ｙｏｕ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｇｏ ｇｅｔ ｓｏｍｅ ｒｅｓｔ. Ｉ'ｌｌ ｓｗｉｔｃｈ ｗｉｔｈ ｙｏｕ, ｏｋａｙ?"

Ruby accepts his offer with a smile, taking his hand to help her off the table. She slowly makes her way to where the others are sleeping. She takes the spot King had previously occupied and curls up. Once she closed her eyes, it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

Ruby dreams.

Everywhere Ruby looks, all she can see is darkness. However she notices that another person is there with her. The figure is shrouded in a large hooded cloak. Their back is at Ruby, so she can't see their face. It seems the other person hadn't noticed Ruby yet. She can hear them sobbing. A large pool of blood surrounds the area around them.

Ruby decides to greet the figure. Raising a hand in a slow wave Ruby calls out to them.

"Um hello? Are you okay?"

The figure straightens their back, ceasing their sobbing. Very slowly they turn their head to look at Ruby. They're wearing a mask, it kind of looks like one used in a drama club or something. There's a smile plastered on it, with eyes that look like crescents. The mask is split into two colors; a red half with a single tear shape under the eye, and the other half is white. It does not respond. It simply keeps staring at her. Ruby feels very watched. It's rather unnerving not knowing who's behind that mask.

Ruby figured maybe introducing herself would speed things along. Hopefully the figure won't ignore her.

"Uh, my name is Ruby Rose. What's your name?"

Ruby waited for a few long seconds, believing that she wouldn't get an answer. However the figure finally reacts, standing up quickly as if in surprise. They were holding their side, maybe that's where they were recently wounded, and where all the blood may have originated. Ruby also noticed a noose tied loosely around their neck.

"Ｒｕｂｙ?"

Ruby didn't feel safe with the tone of familiarity the figure spoke in. She could figure just by the sound of their voice that it was an entity.

She gripped her right hand into a fist, only to feel her fingers wrap around something. She didn't have to look to know that Crescent Rose had somehow materialized into her grip. The familiar weight of her weapon was one she could not forget.

When the figure notice she was now armed it spoke to her in alarm.

"Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｗｈａｔ ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｉｎｇ?"

It was hard to tell whether the figure was male or female, since their voice was somewhat muffled by the mask. Judging from their stature though, Ruby figured it was probably more female than male.

"Tell me your name." Ruby said to them.

The figure spoke excitedly.

"Ｍｙ ｎａｍｅ ｉｓ ＷＱ. Ｉ'ｖｅ ｂｅｅｎ ｖｅｒｙ ｅａｇｅｒ ｔｏｏ ｓｅｅ ｙｏｕ." They were slowly raising their hand holding the scissors.

"Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ," WQ pointed the scissors at Ruby. "Ｗｈａｔ ｃｏｌｏｒ ｉｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｂｌｏｏｄ?"

They stared each other down for a few moments, no one making a move.

"Ｔｅｌｌ ｍｅ ｔｈｅ ａｎｓｗｅｒ." WQ demanded of Ruby.

Ruby didn't feel threatened by her. This was Ruby's dream, she had control. She continued to stare down WQ as she spoke confidently.

"My blood"

Rose petals began to gather around Ruby's back. WQ remained silent.

"Is red."

Ruby raised her weapon, pointing the muzzle of the rifle at her. Rose petals continued to gather at her back, creating something very important to Ruby.

"Red like roses."

As the two continued their stare down, a breeze blew through, sweeping away the darkness. Now everything was bright, the whole area illuminated in white light. The breeze caused Ruby's fully formed cape to wrap around in front of her, the petals scattering toward WQ.

WQ's hood had fallen off to reveal long pale blond hair whipping behind her. As the petals touched WQ's mask it began to crack and splinter apart. WQ withdrew her scissors and loosened her grip on them, letting it clatter onto the ground. She placed her hands under her to catch some of the fallen pieces of the crumbling mask.

"Ｏｈ ｈｅｃｋｉｅ."

Ruby looked on in astonished curiosity as WQ's face was slowly being revealed. For now, all Ruby could see was her mouth, which had large fangs protruding from the upper lip; and two holes for nostrils. Ruby can see blood on her cheeks.

Ruby couldn't help but think she looked a lot like Weiss. Although the noose around WQ's neck also reminded her of the entity that took Weiss.

"You. Tell me where Weiss is. Were you the one that took her away?" Ruby nearly growled out.

"Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ Ｂａｃｋ Ｒａｎｋ Ｋｎｉｇｈｔ. Ｉ ａｍ ＷＱ. Ａｓ ｆｏｒ Ｗｅｉｓｓ..." WQ paused slightly in thought.

"Ｗｅｉｓｓ ｄｏｅｓ ｎｏｔ ｅｘｉｓｔ ｉｎ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｒｌｄ, ｎｏ ｓｕｃｈ ｈｕｍａｎ, ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ, ｏｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ ｅｘｉｓｔｓ."

Ruby discards her weapon, Crescent Rose vanishing without a trace. She steps closer to WQ to try and get a better look. She looks really familiar.

"You're..." Ruby tentatively reaches out a hand.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｍｅ, ｙｏｕ ｂａｓｔａｒｄ." WQ says harshly.

The rest of the mask falls away, revealing WQ's face.

"Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ. Ｉ'ｍ ｓｏＲＲＹ. Ｉ'Ｍ ＳＯＲＲＹ." WQ repeats mournfully, getting a bit louder each time.

Ruby gazes upon her face in complete shock, unable to speak. On the sides of WQ's head are two large horns, looking much like a rams. They're inversely curled, and the tips are buried into WQ's eyes. Fresh blood flows from the gouged sockets.

"Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｉｔ ｂｅｃａｕｓｅ Ｉ ｌｏｖｅ ｙｏｕ."

Then everything went dark.

* * *

**A/N: Oh heckie. Even in her dreams Ruby can't seem to get away from this madness. At least she had her cape back for a little bit. I kinda miss seeing her with it in the comic.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	21. Long Live The Queen

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while, but had my finals to worry about. **

**I noticed something weird with the doc manager. In Word, this specific chunk of story is around 2k words, but on here it's barely over 1k. I think it must be the wide text, it is abnormal so the manager takes it differently I guess. Anyways, crazy dream huh? Let's see how things unfold now.**

* * *

Ruby snapped her eyes open. She was awake. Sitting herself up, she heard someone greet her.

"Ｇｏｏｄ Ｍｏｒｎｉｎｇ Ｒｕｂｙ!" Ruby looked over to the source of the voice.

"Ｒｅｎ ｍａｄｅ ｐａｎｃａｋｅｓ. Ｃｏｍｅ ｅａｔ." It was King. He had a goofy smile on his face, making Ruby smile back.

He and the others were sitting at one of the cafeteria tables, plates full of fresh pancakes in front of them. Ruby noticed Yan- 3D wasn't with them. She stood up and scanned the area. She didn't have to look long to see 3D sitting alone at another table further away from everyone. King grabbed her attention once again.

"Ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｄｏ ｎｅｘｔ?" He asked.

Before Ruby walks over to the others, she asks 3D if she wants to join the group for pancakes. 3D turns her body to look back at her, a fork in hand with a piece of pancake on it.

"Ｎｏ ｎｏ, Ｉ'ｍ ｆｉｎｅ. Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗｏｒｒｙ." She says, shoving the pancake into her mouth.

Ruby shrugs and moves over to sit at the table with everyone else. Ren serves a few pancakes onto an empty plate and sets it in front of Ruby. She thanked him, but before digging in she remembered about her odd dream with WQ. Ruby tells the others about her dream.

"So, does WQ sound familiar to you?" She asks the two entities.

3D gets a strange look on her face. She looked like she was in shock. King's single eye widened. He looked scared.

"Ｔｈａｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｇｏｏｄ." King spoke. "Ｉ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈａｔ ｏｎｅ. ＷＱ ｉｓ-" Before he could finish 3D cut him off.

"ＬＯＮＧ ＬＩＶＥ ＴＨＥ ＱＵＥＥＮ. ＬＯＮＧ ＬＩＶＥ ＱＵＥＥＮ ＷＱ. ＨＡ ＨＡ ＨＡ." She had a crazed look in her eyes and a maniac grin on her face.

Ruby was startled when King rose up and slammed a hand on the table, causing his plate of pancakes to bounce up. Spikes shot out of his arm and he growled at 3D.

"ＷＱ ｉｓ ＮＯＴ ｑｕｅｅｎ ｏｆ ＡＮＹＴＨＩＮＧ. Ｓｈｅ ｆａｎｃｉｅｓ ｈｅｒｓｅｌｆ Ｑｕｅｅｎ ｏｆ Ｂｅａｃｏｎ. Ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｗｒｏｎｇ."

3D seemed unaffected by his hostility and simply flipped him the bird with both hands. She stuck her tongue out at him, then began chanting, "Ｐｒａｉｓｅ ｈｅｒ ｎａｍｅ" repeatedly. Ruby could see the darkened spot on 3D's bloody chest where the gunshot wound was, and notices it has not healed. Ruby will ask her about it later, right now she wants to know more about WQ.

"How do you know WQ?" Ruby asks the two.

"Ｉ ｏｆｔｅｎ ｈｅａｒ ｈｅｒ ｉｎ ｍｙ ｈｅａｄ." King said, placing a hand to his head for emphasis.

"Ｕｓｕｓａｌｌｙ ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｃｒｙｉｎｇ. Ｏｆｔｅｎ, ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｙｅｌｌｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ ｈｅｒ ｓｕｐｅｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ."

3D opens her arm wide, like she was going to give a hug. A wide toothy grin on her face, and her eyes squinting shut.

"Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｒｕｌｙ ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ ｔｏ ｈｅａｒ ｈｅｒ ｖｏｉｃｅ." She says in awe.

King removes his tiara from atop his head, studying it in his hands with a look of remorse as he spoke.

"Ｈｅａｒｉｎｇ ｈｅｒ ｖｏｉｃｅ ｍａｋｅｓ ｍｅ ｆｅｅｌ ｍｏｒｅ ｌｉｋｅ ａ ｍｏｎｓｔｅｒ ｔｈａｎ ａ ｍａｎ." He says sadly.

3D places a hand on her chest, right over her wound.

"Ｓｈｅ ｌｏｖｅｓ ｕｓ ｍｏｒｅ ｔｈａｎ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎ. Ｓｈｅ ｉｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｎ ａｎｙ ｏｆ ｕｓ. Ｗｅ ａｒｅ ｔｒｕｌｙ ｂｌｅｓｓｅｄ." She says reveredly.

King returns the tiara atop his head after giving 3D a disgusted look. 3D simply grins a bit wickedly at him. Ruby observes the two entities' reactions before continuing with another question.

"Is WQ behind all of the things happening in Beacon?"

WQ looks at Ruby with pity, probably for her ignorance.

"Ｏｈ ｐｌｅａｓｅ." She says with a wave of her hand. "ＷＱ ｄｉｄｎ'ｔ ｃａｕｓｅ ｔｈｉｓ."

King has a stoic expression and places both hands on his hips.

"...ｆｏｒ ｏｎｃｅ, ｔｈｉｓ ｉｄｉｏｔ ｉｓ ｒｉｇｈｔ."

Everyone fell silent for a while, the two entities waiting on Ruby for another question. As Ruby tried to remember things from her dream she made a realization about something.

"In my dream, WQ told me 'I did it because I love you'" Ruby points at 3D. "When we found out about your true identity you said the same thing. Did you hear that phrase before, from her?"

3D shook her head and splayed her hands out to her sides in a shrug.

"Ｉｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｃａｍｅ ｔｏ ｍｅ. Ｃａｎ'ｔ ｅｘｐｌａｉｎ ｔｈａｔ."

Ruby turned to King then.

"Earlier in our discussion you said WQ made you feel more like a monster when you hear her voice. Why?"

King had a somber look, and crossed his arms over his torso.

"Ｓｈｅ ｈａｓ...ａ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎ ｉｎｆｌｕｅｎｃｅ." He started. 3D approached the group's table, looking only at King. She activated Ember Celica with a click, and put one leg on the table, but she did nothing more. Probably waiting to pummel King for saying some kind of insult about WQ.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ｎｏｔ ｓｔｒｏｎｇ ｅｎｏｕｇｈ ｔｏ ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ ｃｏｎｔｒｏｌ ｍｅ, ｂｕｔ ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｈｅｒｅ. Ｓｏｍｅｈｏｗ, ＷＱ ｈａｓ ｔｈｅ ａｂｉｌｉｔｙ ｔｏ ａｆｆｅｃｔ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ' ｍｏｏｄ ａｎｄ ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ."

Ruby looks at the tiara on King's head as he speaks. Another question arising.

"Where did that come from?" Ruby pointed to it, drawing King's attention. "I kind of noticed earlier, but...a lot was happening then." Ruby trailed off with a sad smile.

King took off the tiara once again, studying it in his hands.

"Ｉｔ'ｓ ａ ｔｉａｒａ, Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｗｈｅｒｅ ｉｔ ｃａｍｅ ｆｒｏｍ, ｂｕｔ..." King had a small smile on his face as he spoke. "Ｂｕｔ ｓｏｍｅｈｏｗ, ｉｔ ｆｅｅｌｓ ｌｉｋｅ ｓｏｍｅｏｎｅ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｍｅ ｔｏ ｈａｖｅ ｉｔ." He placed it back on his head once more.

Now that Ruby got most of her more relevant questions on WQ out of the way, it was time to address 3D's wound. Ruby waved a hand at her to catch her attention.

"Aren't you going to heal that hole in Yang's chest, or just walk around like that the whole time?"

3D rubbed her face with a hand seeming a bit aggravated.

"Ａｒｅ ｙｏｕ ａｃｔｕａｌｌｙ ｄｅｎｓｅ? Ｗｅｒｅ ｙｏｕ ｎｏｔ ｐａｙｉｎｇ ａｔｔｅｎｔｉｏｎ?" Ruby looked at her pointedly causing 3D to sigh.

"Ｆｉｒｓｔ ｏｆ ａｌｌ, ｔｈｉｓ ｂｏｄｙ ｉｓ ｊｕｓｔ ａｓ ｍｕｃｈ ｍｉｎｅ ａｓ ｉｔ ｗａｓ Ｙａｎｇ'ｓ! Ｓｅｃｏｎｄｌｙ..." She said in a somewhat bored tone. "Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ Ｉ ｃｏｕｌｄ ｒｅｐｅａｔ ｉｔ, ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｓａｋｅ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｉｄｉｏｔｓ ａｎｄ ｃｈｉｌｄｒｅｎ." She grinned at the last part. She brought a hand over the wound in her chest before continuing.

"Ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｎｄ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｃｅｒｔａｉｎｌｙ ｋｉｌｌ Ｙａｎｇ! Ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ Ｙａｎｇ! Ｕｓｉｎｇ ｍｙ ｐｏｗｅｒ, Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ ｄｙｉｎｇ-ｂｕｔ Ｉ ａｍ ｎｏｔ ａｌｌｏｗｉｎｇ ｔｈｉｓ ｗｏｕｎｄ ｔｏ ｈｅａｌ! Ｉｆ Ｙａｎｇ ｃａｍｅ ｂａｃｋ ｎｏｗ, ｓｈｅ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｄｉｅ." King then further clarified what she said to the group.

"Ｉｎ ｏｔｈｅｒ ｗｏｒｄｓ, 3Ｄ ｉｓ ｈｏｌｄｉｎｇ Ｙａｎｇ ｈｏｓｔａｇｅ."

3D clenched her hand as she moved it away from her chest, and grinned wickedly as she looked at Ruby.

"Ｐｒｅｃｉｓｅｌｙ."

* * *

**A/N: I'm kinda eager to see your reactions to 3D now, heeheehee. There were mixed reactions, but a majority seem to find her being an big 'ol patoot. Tell me what you think of 3D keeping Yang hostage in a review or pm. Lookin forward to it~**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	22. The Offices

**A/N: Well, WQ sure does bring out the best in people. Time to see if our rag-tag team will hold together alright.**

* * *

A silence settles over the group, stern gazes piercing through 3D, who simply grins. Eventually everyone finishes their meal and prepares to proceed to their next destination. Ruby calls for an inventory check from all the members.

Ruby carries her beloved Crescent Rose, the knife she got from Pyrrha, a single first aid kit, King's crown polish, and the spare batteries she had for her last flashlight.

King has with him the Journal, a rag, and the pen nib.

Blake seems completely combat ready as she is carrying not only her own weapon, Gambol Shroud, but Ren's double pistols, as well as the metal pipe she's had since Ruby first encountered her.

Ren holds the two letters from Nora and the large textbook on Beacon's history Ruby had given him. It's not exactly a reliable weapon, but at least it's something.

3D's inventory hasn't changed at all from before. She still has her music player and headphones, along with the strange horn. Of course Ember Celica is on her wrists and saves up space, allowing her to still be able to carry more things.

Velvet only has her huge knife, which is still covered in 3D's blood. She should probably clean that.

After everyone is prepared Ruby becomes determined to head out. Finally. Time to move on. As the others await her orders, 3D decides it's a great time to pester King. She slowly moves a hand towards his face, her index finger pointed out. King stands firmly in place as she pokes him, forcing him to tilt his head. King just growls at her, placing both hands on his hips. Blake looks at 3D with a glare, her arms crossed in annoyance. Ruby turns around and starts to head out the cafeteria doors, a little bit grumpy at the long delay and everyone's antics.

They walk out of the doors in single file. Ruby being the lead, then followed by 3D, Ren, Blake, Velvet, and finally King.

The hall they travel through has them pass the corpse of entity Nora. Ruby feels somber upon seeing it, but doesn't stop progressing. She can hear Velvet gasp at the sight of the body in shock. King's voice could be heard next; he's probably explaining what happened to her.

Ruby reaches the bottom of a set of stairs. Up these stairs are the offices and classrooms. The stairs have two different paths, but both lead to the same place. As they make their way up the left side, 3D detours from the rest of the group by going up the opposite stairway. Once they reach the next floor Ruby waits for 3D to approach the group before speaking. She could hear 3D say faintly, "The stairs have been ascended."

Now Ruby has to make a choice on which way to go. She informs the others of this dilemma by stating their options.

"Offices are on this side." She points behind her, towards the stairs they had just taken. "Classrooms twenty and up are on that side." She points toward 3D's direction. "What do you think?" She asks everyone.

"Where to first?" Velvet looks to Ruby, who in turn looks at everyone else.

"You can decide." Ren says.

"I don't care either way." Blake tells her.

King says nothing. He looks nervous.

"Hey King, what's up? You look nervous." Ruby asks.

King rubs the back of his head with one hand. "Ｗｅｌｌ, ｕｈ...ｉｔ'ｓ...ｎｏｔ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ａｎｙｔｈｉｎｇ...ｉ'ｍ ｊｕｓｔ...ｎｅｒｖｏｕｓ. Ａｂｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｏｆｆｉｃｅ, ａｎｄ...ｗｈａｔ'ｓ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ ｉｔ."

Seeing King's uneasiness Ruby comes up with a plan to randomize their choice.

"Blake, I want you to use your pipe for a process in which to choose which direction we go." Blake retrieves her metal rod.

"Okay, now prop it upright and let it drop, whichever way it points we'll go there first."

Blake nods in affirmation. "Awesome." She says, as she does what she's told.

The gang gather around as Blake steps away from the rod, watching in anticipation which way the rod will land. King stays back, his hands held near his mouth as he observes timidly. The pipe wobbles before falling over to one side. King's anxiety seems to increase as he fidgets uncomfortably. The rod points to the offices.

The decision having been made, Blake picks up the pipe and everyone heads over to the offices. Ruby walks past most of the doors, reading the nameplates on each one. The door she was searching for happens to be one at the end of the hall. The nameplate reads 'Ozpin'.

* * *

**A/N: What could be in the offices that makes King act so bizarrely? You'll have to wait for the next chappy to find out!**

**As always, thank you all for reading and I hope this story has been keeping you interested.**


	23. Confined Queens

**A/N: Time to find out what King is so worried about!**

* * *

Ruby turns the handle and pushes the door open without hesitance. After all, King did mention that the entity in the offices was not hostile. Having open the door completely, Ruby spots a humanoid entity sitting behind a desk before her. As she examines the entity's characteristics the others file in alongside her. King stayed in the back, shivering uncontrollably.

This entity had two heads; she also noticed there was a large chain at the base of its neck. The one to Ruby's right had three empty bleeding eye sockets, the third eye being at the center of its forehead. It also had three small horns circling the front of its head. It had no mouth, and the left arm hung limply at its side, but it had a single large wing attached to its back. The other head had only two horns, each one at the side of its head. A diamond shaped design was on the middle of its forehead. It had two pairs of eyes, a smaller set above the slightly larger ones. There were also glasses perched on its face, only over the bigger eyes. The earpieces were hooked around its horns. Its fanged mouth hung open, with drool flowing freely from it. Perhaps it had an inability to close its jaw? The arm this side seemed to control was embedded with three large spikes. It was turning the page of a book before Ruby had entered.

The four-eyed head glanced up at the group with a stern stare. Ruby tentatively raised a hand in a wave. "Um...Hi?"

She saw 3D wave as well, though a bit more enthusiastically than she did.

The creature raised its clawed hand and waved back, while its other half gave a small flap of its wing.

Well, it doesn't seem hostile. Ruby thought.

Ruby looked around at her friends to observe their reactions, most of them were basically mute, but they were calm. Except for King, who was still quaking in fearfulness.

"King, seriously what's wrong? You look like you're freaking out back there." Ruby watched him worriedly.

King's single eye widened so much that one could see the veins. His arm spikes had come out in his state of nervousness, the trembling becoming more noticeable.

"Ｆ-Ｆｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ? Ｗｈｙ ｗｏｕｌｄ Ｉ ｂｅ ｆｒｅａｋｉｎｇ ｏｕｔ? Ｈａｈａｈａｈａ."

**_He's obviously lying._**

**_Maybe it's the entity?_**

**_It's probably making him nervous._**

**_He must recognize it then._**

**_Ask King if he knows this entity._**

As Ruby asks him, the head with four eyes squints its eyes into a piercing glare directly at King. King steels himself and moves past Ruby towards the creature.

"Ｉｎｄｅｅｄ- Ｉ ｄｏ ｋｎｏｗ ｔｈｉｓ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ..." King stands in front of the desk, a hand clutching his scarf and a large tear about to roll off his eye. He directs everyone's attention to the eyeless head. "Ｐｒｏｐｈｙｌａｘｉｓ Ｓａｃｒｉｆｉｃｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ", then he looks at the other. "Ｚｕｇｚｗａｎｇ Ｂｌｕｎｄｅｒ Ｑｕｅｅｎ".

The latter entity continues to glare menacingly at him as he continues to speak, raising its clawed hand.

"Ｔｈｅｓｅ ｔｗｏ ｗｅｒｅ ｆｏｒｍｅｒｌｙ ｋｎｏｗｎ ａｓ-" King was cut off as Zugzwang Blunder Queen took a swipe at him, managing to leave a large gash on his left arm.

He grasps his bleeding arm firmly, his hand balling into a fist, but he doesn't cry out in pain. Tears begin streaming from his eye then.

"Ｇｌｙｎｄａ Ｇｏｏｄｗｉｔｃｈ."

Ruby looks at King worriedly.

"King, are you alright? Why is she attacking you? Is it because you got too close, or is it something personal?" Ruby asked carefully.

King's eyelid lowers, creating a solemn expression on him.

"Ｉ...Ｉ ｗａｓ ａ ｆｏｏｌ. Ｉ ｇｏｔ ｔｏｏ ｃｌｏｓｅ. Ｉｔ...Ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｌｉｍｉｔｅｄ ｒａｎｇｅ."King breathed heavily. "Ｉ ｄｏｕｂｔ ｅｉｔｈｅｒ ｏｆ ｔｈｅｍ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒ ｍｅ. Ｔｈｅｙ'ｒｅ...ｎｏｔ ｌｉｋｅ ｍｅ. Ｉ'ｍ ｍｅ, ｎｏｔ ｔｈｅｓｅ ａｒｅ...ｊｕｓｔ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ."

Ruby observes the entity and ponders aloud.

"So that creature is Glynda...How come it has two heads?"

King moves his hand away from the wound on his arm to wipe away his straying tears.

"Ｄｏ ｎｏｔ ｂｅ ｆｏｏｌｅｄ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｊｕｓｔ ｏｎｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｙ. Ｔｈｅｓｅ ａｒｅ ｔｗｏ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅ ｂｅｉｎｇｓ." King lifts his wounded arm carefully making the blood drip from it a bit faster. "Ｔｈｏｕｇｈ ｔｈｅｙ ｂｏｔｈ ｏｒｉｇｉｎａｔｅ ｆｒｏｍ ｈｅｒ, ｔｈｅｙ ａｒｅ ｗｈｏｌｌｙ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅ ｅｎｔｉｔｉｅｓ. Ｅｘｃｅｐｔ, ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｗｅｎｔ ｗｒｏｎｇ." He says regretfully.

Ruby guessed he meant the chain around their necks.

"How are you so sure it's Glynda?" Ruby inquires.

King sighs sadly. "Ｗｈｅｎ...Ｉ ｗａｓ...ｈｉｍ, Ｉ ｄｉｄ ｍａｎｙ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ Ｉ'ｍ ｎｏｔ ｐｒｏｕｄ ｏｆ."

King's single eye seems to become unfocused, almost as if he wasn't wholly there. Soon he broke out of his reverie and clenched the fist of his wounded arm.

"Ｗｈｅｎ Ｉ ｓｔａｒｔｅｄ ｒｅａｌｉｚｉｎｇ ｗｈｏ Ｉ ｕｓｅｄ ｔｏ ｂｅ...ａｎｄ Ｉ ｒｅｍｅｍｂｅｒｅｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｏｏｍ...Ｉ...Ｉ ｗａｎｔｅｄ ｔｏ ｔｅｌｌ ｙｏｕ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄｎ'ｔ ｇｏ ｈｅｒｅ. Ｔｈａｔ ｗｅ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ａｖｏｉｄ ｔｈｉｓ ｒｏｏｍ." He lowers his arm to his side and grasps at the wound once again.

"Ｉ ｓｕｐｐｏｓｅ, ｅｖｅｎ ａｆｔｅｒ ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ, Ｉ ａｍ ｓｔｉｌｌ ａ ｃｏｗａｒｄｌｙ ｍａｎ."

At that moment Zugzwang Blunder Queen took off its glasses and made garbled sounds. As it continued to make the sounds, its speech became clearer and clearer, until they were able to understand it.

"Ｏｚｐｉｎ?"

It seemed that the entity remembered something of its previous life, or it recognized who King used to be. Everyone waited a beat to see if it would say anything else, but it remained silent.

* * *

**A/N: Whoo man! Glynda sure did have a series of unfortunate events xD. It's really quite fascinating that she has two entity forms rather than one. I wonder what special conditions cause that to occur. Give me your theories in a review or pm.**

**Thanks for reading, enjoy your salty salt, hahah.**


	24. Ruby Is Priority

**A/N: I must admit, seeing Protector of Ruby and Editor in the comic for the first time got my all hyped up. I hope ya'll get hype after reading this chappy.**

* * *

Turning her attention back on King, Ruby took out the first aid kit and started to approach him. However before she could get much closer King backpedaled quickly away from her, keeping his bleeding arm away from her.

"Ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｔｏｕｃｈ ｍｅ!" He shouted at her.

Ruby looked at him with a bit of shock and dejection.

"Ｙｏｕ...ｍｉｇｈｔ ｇｅｔ ｉｎｆｅｃｔｅｄ. Ｗｅ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｒｉｓｋ ｔｈａｔ." King explained.

She acknowledged this gesture, but Ruby didn't want to just leave him like that. While she was indecisive on what to do, 3D grabbed the first aid kit from her and stepped past. She placed the kit on a small desk nearby, opening it and taking out the necessary things. As she stood before King he looked at her warily, but soon he uncovered his wound and allowed her to clean and bandage it. She also used a disinfectant wipe to clean off the blood on his other hand. When she had finished completely she gave him a bright toothy smile, her eyes becoming crescent shaped.

"Ａｌｌ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ!"

King looked at her, somewhat dazed by the change in attitude.

Ruby was surprised as well. They were arguing with each other mere moments ago, and now here she was patching him up. It was quite an odd sight.

He smiled back at her, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"Ｔｈａｎｋ ｙｏｕ, 3Ｄ."

3D pumped a fist into the air triumphantly.

"Ｉ ｈｅｌｐｅｄ!"

**_Can't believe that's the professor._**

**_She looks pretty horrific._**

**_Hey, that one did say 'Ozpin' right?_**

**_Perhaps they still recognize us!_**

**_Ask the entities if they remember us._**

Ruby decides it wouldn't hurt to act on this line of thoughts. Rubbing the back of her head, she speaks cautiously to the entities.

"Uhm...P-Professor...Do you, uhh, do you recognize us?"

Zugzwang Blunder Queen props their arm on the table, resting its head in its hand. It looks disinterestedly at its counterpart, which seems to perk up at Ruby's question. Prophylaxis Sacrifice Queen flaps its wing excitedly in response, straining to get its thoughts out. Zugzwang sighs and dons its glasses once again. After clearing its throat it points its hand directly at Ruby.

"Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉｓ. Ｔｈｅ. Ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ." It says with a bit of strain.

"The...priority?" Ruby is caught off guard by this. She's not entirely sure how to feel. The entity continues.

"Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｉｓ."...Ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ. 'Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ ｉｓ ｔｈｅ ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ'...Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔｏｒ ｏｆ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｔｈｉｓ ｏｎｅ'ｓ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ ｉｓ ａ ｇｉｆｔ ｆｒｏｍ ｔｈｅ Ｑｕｅｅｎ...Ａ ｐｕｒｐｏｓｅ Ｐｒｏｔｅｃｔｏｒ ｃａｎｎｏｔ ｈｏｐｅ ｔｏ ｆｕｌｆｉｌｌ." Ｔｈｅ. Ｐｒｉｏｒｉｔｙ."

Ruby is dumbstruck by this reveal.

"Why can you not fulfill that purpose? And why me?" Ruby asks.

Zugzwang clutches at the chain around its neck, Ruby had forgotten about that.

"Ｔｈａｔ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｂｅ ｏｂｖｉｏｕｓ. Ｎｅｉｔｈｅｒ ｏｆ ｕｓ ｃａｎ ｍｏｖｅ." It places its hand back on the desk.

"Ｗｈｙ Ｒｕｂｙ? Ｔｈａｔ ｉｓ...Ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ. Ｉ...Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｍｏｒｅ ｉｎｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎ."

"Well, what have you been doing since you can't move?" Ruby continued.

Zugzwang looked down at the book laid in front of it.

"Ｗｅ ｒｅａｄ, ｍｏｓｔｌｙ. Ｔｈｅｒｅ ｉｓｎ'ｔ ｍｕｃｈ ｅｌｓｅ ｔｏ ｄｏ."

**_Hey look at King's tiara._**

**_It's glowing like crazy._**

**_Maybe it's reacting to the entities?_**

**_Have King give it to them._**

**_Perhaps something interesting will happen._**

Ruby had forgotten about the strange tiara King had mysteriously acquired. She turned to him, making eye contact with him before looking at the brightly glowing tiara. King seemed to have caught on to her line of thinking, as he moved a hand towards it.

"Ｉ ｇｕｅｓｓ...ｉｔ'ｓ ｔｉｍｅ ｔｏ ｒｅｔｕｒｎ ｔｈｉｓ." He said solemnly.

He removed the tiara from atop his head and moved over to the entities. Zugzwang stared wide-eyed at the purple glow emitted from the tiara. After placing it on the desk, the entity picked it up carefully and held it at eye level. When it looked up at them its four eyes were brimmed with tears, tears of lava. It dropped the tiara onto the desk and quickly swiped off its glasses as well. There was lava pouring out of its eyes and mouth, as well from Prophylaxis. Soon it was consumed by it, and a bright flash caused everyone to avert or cover their eyes. As the light faded, a familiar figure sat before them.

* * *

**A/N: 3D is such a cutie. She seems to be getting better with the whole friendship thing. At least nobody is shooting her anymore xD. Also, oh snapple! Bright flashy lights and lava = epic (& prolly painful) transformation. Now they are magical girls, hahah. Yes, even King.**


	25. The Good Witch

**A/N: Okay, 'familiar figure' that's gotta make ya freak out, right? I hope so, now get more hype on this informative chappy because GlyndaQuest begins. Hahah.**

* * *

**_Promptly flip the fuck out._**

**_Look at all these startling developments._**

**_Holy shit! What?!_**

Ruby proceeds to flip the fuck out. She gasps in equal shock and surprise, covering her mouth with both hands while doing so.

"Oh fuck."

Miss Rose...Please watch your language- we are on school grounds, after all." Glynda Goodwitch says to her while putting her glasses on.

Ruby rubs the back of her head in embarrassment. "S-Sorry."

That's prof. Goodwitch alright.

Ruby takes a glance at King to see how he's handling the sudden turn of events. King is quiet, as he simply stares at the professor. Ruby returns her attention back to Glynda.

**_Is she alright?_**

**_What a crazy transformation._**

**_It looked like it really hurt._**

"Um, professor, are you okay? You're not in any pain right now, are you?" Ruby asked.

"...Yes, I am fine. Thank you for your concern." She answers a bit stoically. Ruby notices Glynda's attention is occupied as she looks over at King, who had moved past her to reach for something.

"...What are you doing?" She inquires him.

King turns to face her, a slight blush of nervousness apparent on his face. He points a finger toward the back area.

"...Ｔｈｅ ｋｅｙ-" He starts nervously. Glynda cuts him off though.

"...How do you know where the key is? The only one who knows that is-" Glynda stops her speech suddenly, and a look of realization dawns upon her features.

King acquires the key during this pause, and looks to Glynda sadly.

"Ｇｌｙｎｄａ, Ｉ-" Once again she cuts him off.

"Excuse me?" She says with a growl. "I'm sorry, I don't recall being on a first name basis with you." Her emerald eyes seem to exude a menacing glow, almost similar to that of 3D. "...Who exactly are you?"

The group fidgets nervously, feeling like a bunch of awkward third wheels. King panics as he looks to Ruby.

"Ｒｕｂｙ ｗｈａｔ ｄｏ Ｉ ｄｏ Ｒｕｂｙ. Ｒｕｂｙ, ｈｅｌｐ." He says frantically.

**_Calm Glynda down._**

**_Reason with her to listen._**

**_Tell her the truth._**

**_Tell her everything._**

After Ruby voices her thoughts for Glynda to remain clam, Glynda replies stoically.

"I am calm. I am listening. And I am eagerly awaiting an explanation."

Ruby asks her if it's okay that King unlocks the chains, which the professor only nods her head in affirmative. While King opens the locks, Ruby explains everything that happened so far, starting with Weiss' disappearance. Certain points of her retelling leave Ruby feeling drained and very melancholic. She had to pause occasionally, being unable to speak sometimes. Glynda waits patiently during these moments, not saying a word, though she gives Ruby a sympathetic look. Even with the few pauses, it doesn't take too long for Ruby to complete her retell of all the events. Everything seems so long ago.

Glynda massages her wrists to stimulate the blood flow, her features somber.

"Thank you for the explanation..." She then turns her attention on King.

"So. Ozpin turned into you, did he?"

King rubs his head bashfully. "Ｕ-Ｕｍ, ｙｅｓ."

Glynda stands up abruptly and approaches King. King looks down at her like a kicked puppy, while she stares back stoically. After a beat, she then crossed her arms and let out a chuckle.

"Ha. Well. It could be worse." King looks at her quizzically.

"I mean, you could be hostile." She says as she places her hands on her hips.

"Ｈｅｈ, ｙｅａｈ..." King rubs his head shyly.

"Or you could be a spitter!"

"Ｈａｈａｈａ, ｙｅａｈ."

Ruby feels a bit awkward as she interrupts their conversation to ask Glynda another question. She asks the professor if she remembers anything.

"Recently, not much. You know the feeling, I'm sure- when you are having a bad dream, and you fight to wake up. You're not there, might as well be dead- then, all of a sudden, you exist again. However, you are not yet awake- fighting your own mind, you are in the dark, cut off from your senses. I remember that feeling. Somehow, I held on. I kept being pushed back down into the dark, but every time those things I had become remembered that they were alive, that they were more than what they had become, I was there. I remember hearing a voice- it said to go back, to revert, to let myself be pushed under again...A few times, I did. It was...better that way. Easier. It didn't hurt as much- how do you feel pain when you don't exist?" Is what she says.

Ruby asks Glynda if she has anything in her inventory.

"I don't have anything of use. Sorry."

**_She was close to Ozpin._**

**_Have King show her the journal._**

**_Maybe she can tell you more about its contents._**

Ruby asks King about his journal and he dutifully hands the tome over to Glynda. As Glynda peers through its contents she seems to pause at a certain point for a while. She closes her eyes and shuts the book, silently crying. Ruby decides not to push her further into reading it.

"If you need to rest before coming with us that would be okay professor." Ruby offers.

Glynda looks at her, her eyes glowing once again.

"I'm okay. Ready when you are."

"A-Are you sure? Uh, you look really tired." Ruby could hear 3D agree with her.

"Ｙｅａｈ ｄｕｄｅ, ｙｏｕ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ ｓｈｉｔ."

"I assure you, I am fine and ready to move out at any time. Additionally, I will do my best to answer any questions you have."

**_Let's see if she can answer a few things._**

**_What's a spitter?_**

**_Ask her how entities are made._**

**_See if she knows how the infection spreads._**

"First of all, infection spreads via contact with infected blood. Direct skin contact. For example, from what you told me, miss Nikos' hand was covered in infected blood- TTSE'S, to be specific. If we assume TTSE lifted her off the ground, it all becomes easier to visualize. In an effort to escape, she may have opted to drive the knife into its hand- splashing her own hand with its blood...you know the rest. Now, a 'spitter' is what we call an entity that, well, spits- it uses its blood as a defense or weapon, spraying- and thus infecting- those who get too close. And that, dear students, is how entities are made. And that, as they say, is that. Anything else?"

* * *

**A/N: Glynda is so informative. It's great that we're able to have her on the team now. Ya just gotta hope she doesn't do some sort of heroic sacrifice bs xD.****Ya got educated in the art of entity origins, ya betta be happy. lol **

**Thanks for reading ya'll!**


End file.
